Hygiene Products Import Business Report — Reporting Procedure at the Regional Office of Food and Drug Safety and Facility Standards

Procedure

1. 1. Check whether the items are hygiene products

   First see whether the product to be imported is a hygiene product under the Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act. Covered items include detergents and rinse aids, disposable cups, spoons, chopsticks, forks and straws, toilet paper and paper napkins, and disposable diapers and cotton swabs. Products that look similar but are classified as cosmetics or quasi-drugs follow an entirely different procedure.

2. 2. Identify the business type and the reporting agency

   An import business reports to the head of the Regional Office of Food and Drug Safety. A manufacturing business and a sanitary wet towel processing business report to the head of the city, county or district (si/gun/gu), so if you intend to both manufacture and import, the two reports must each be prepared.

3. 3. Set up the office and the storage warehouse

   In principle, an independent office and a warehouse for storing the products in a sanitary manner are required. If the warehouse is leased, the lease agreement must be attached, so check that the purpose of use and the area stated in the agreement match the actual situation.

4. 4. Complete sanitation education and file the business report

   After setting up the facilities and receiving sanitation education for hygiene products before the report, submit the business report form and attachments such as the certificate of completion of sanitation education to the competent Regional Office of Food and Drug Safety. Within 3 days from the date of the report, the agency receiving the report gives notice of whether it is accepted. Import business can start after the report certificate is received, and at actual customs clearance a separate import report procedure for each product follows.

Required documents

• Business report form for a hygiene products import business
• Certificate of completion of sanitation education (completed before the report)
• Document confirming the office location (building register or lease agreement)
• Lease agreement for the storage warehouse (if the warehouse is leased)
• Business registration certificate or certificate of all registered matters of the corporation
• List of items to be handled (for determining the business type)

Fees

Government fees for the business report follow the standards of the competent agency. Service fees in the industry are generally around several hundred thousand won and vary with the scope of the item classification review and whether the warehouse requirements need to be sorted out. We will advise you after a consultation based on the items and the office and warehouse situation.

See fees and official charges for this service →

Legal basis and review date

• Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act, Article 2
• Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act, Article 3
• Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act, Article 8
• Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act, Article 9
• Enforcement Rule of the Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act, Article 3
• Enforcement Rule of the Cleansing and Hygiene Products Control Act, attached Table 1

Checked against the statutes on 2026-09-30

Statutes and public notices change, so each case needs to be checked individually. Statute titles are given in English for reference. The Korean statutes are the authoritative text.

Check these first

• Check the independent office requirement and the permitted use of the warehouse before signing the office and warehouse contracts.
• Even after the import business report is completed, a separate import report for each product is needed at every customs clearance.

Frequently asked questions