Jin Woo Rhee and Yong Joon Jang. "The Effects of K-REACH on Chemical Imports and Its Consistency with the WTO TBT Agreement." Journal of International Trade and Industry Studies 25, 2 (2020): 1-31.
-Abstact-
This paper aims to empirically estimate the effects of K-REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) regulations on Chemical Imports in Korea and analyze its consistency with the WTO TBT Agreement. The empirical results show that K-REACH indeed negatively affects chemical imports of Korea, which is consistent with specific trade concerns from other WTO members. However, based on the TBT Agreement and decisions made by the Dispute Settlement Understanding, we evaluate that K-REACH attributes to achieve its legitimate objective to protect people’s health and environment. Also, there are no alternative less trade-restrictive measures in the view of comprehensive control of chemicals. In this respect, we conclude that K-REACH does not violate the non-discrimination and national treatment principle of the WTO TBT Agreement. However, the Korean government should take additional measures to protect trade secrets and enhance transparency for K-REACH.