E-commerce companies including Naver and Coupang will newly join the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment's "household chemical products safety council." The council is a body the government created to discuss with corporations how people can use household chemical products such as detergents and deodorizers safely and to have corporations carry those measures out. Previously, offline retailers mainly took part.
The ministry said on the 23rd it will hold the "household chemical products and biocides safety management implementation declaration ceremony" on the 24th. Officials from 12 e-commerce corporations that have newly decided to join the council will also attend the ceremony. The participating corporations include Naver and Coupang, as well as ▲ SSG.com ▲ Lotte Shopping e-Commerce ▲ GS Retail ▲ Gmarket ▲ 11Street ▲ Shinsegae Live Shopping ▲ Hyundai Home Shopping ▲ Home&Shopping ▲ NS Home Shopping ▲ SK Stoa.
At the ceremony, the corporations are set to declare that they will cooperate with manufacturers and importers to ensure the distribution of safe household chemical products and promote safety management activities. They also noted they will formulate and implement joint retailer policies together. In addition, they will announce that they will publicize council activities and information on household chemical products in ways that consumers can easily understand.
Since 2017, the ministry has worked with corporations to collaborate on the safe management of household chemical products. The council currently includes two government institutions—the ministry and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI)—four civil society groups including the Labor, Environment and Health Research Institute and the Green Consumer Network, and 68 corporations. The council has disclosed full ingredient lists of household chemical products, managed raw material safety, and inspected the hazards of finished goods.
Meanwhile, at the ceremony the ministry will also sign an "agreement to establish a voluntary safety management system for biocides" with 13 textile product manufacturers and distributors. Biocides are substances and products used to eliminate or render harmless harmful organisms. The corporations are set to declare that they will use only biocides and chemical products whose safety has been verified, and will also try to reduce the amounts used.