Gov unveils online database supports firms comply with export controls

01 Aug '05

2 min read

The Korean government recently launched an online database that makes it easier for firms to identify export control items categorized under regulations as sensitive, such as certain commodities, software, and technology. The new database is designed to increase compliance with export controls often complex and cumbersome for many companies to meet.

Last February the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Energy (MOCIE) uploaded an online system that contains information on the country's export control regulations. The system enables users to easily search and locate regulated export items. It also provides a one-stop service that allows application and permit procedures to take place online.

Since its debut exporters lauded the system's reliability and user-friendly features citing that the result of the database is increased productivity.

Previously, it would have taken days to review an export control guideline that exceeds 500 pages in length. This made compliance with a particular export control regime so tedious that it jeopardized the normal flow of business operations.

The new system simplifies procedures by allowing users to identify export controls online at MOCIE's search engine (www.sec.go.kr), by either HSK (Harmonized System of Korea) code that each commodity carries or by controlled item code. The process takes 10 to 20 minutes.

Since its launch last February, the database has benefited a growing number of domestic corporate customers. As of the end of May, the website recorded as many as 157,856 hits. Among the total of 716 cases filed and processed between February and May, 122 cases have been granted export permits. According to a survey of 618 exporting companies, the percentage of respondents who said that they were familiar with the export control system climbed four-fold from a year earlier to 36%.

More Textiles News - South Korea...