The government has overhauled relevant regulations to restrict the export and import of items that threaten national security and the protection of personal and corporate information.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the enforcement decree amendment to the Foreign Trade Act containing these measures was approved at a Cabinet meeting today (October 13).

The enforcement decree, along with the revised Foreign Trade Act amended last April, will take effect starting October 22.

The Foreign Trade Act amended last April expanded the grounds for restricting exports and imports—which were previously limited to war, turmoil, natural disasters, unfair discrimination by counterpart countries, and the maintenance of international peace—to include threats to national security, the protection of personal and corporate information, public morals, and the protection of national treasures.

Through this amendment to the enforcement decree, the government has detailed the contents and methods of investigations required to actually implement the newly expanded export and import restriction measures.

Procedures have been established to go through expert consultations and gather opinions from stakeholders during the investigation process, and detailed investigation matters will be stipulated through public notices.

Systems have also been reorganized to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in utilizing trade agreements.

The scope of statistical data that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy can request from the Korea Customs Service has been specified, including export and import amounts eligible for preferential tariffs under agreements, actual export and import amounts that received preferential tariffs, and agreement tariff utilization rates.

In addition, the legal status and management system of trade utilization support institutions have been overhauled.

Provisions were made to cancel the designation of institutions if they continuously fail to meet designation requirements or if their business execution is remarkably unfair.

However, a hearing procedure is required to listen to the opinions of the relevant institution during the designation cancellation process.

(Photo: Yonhap News)