Some spray-type cleaning agents and disinfectants directly purchased from overseas online shopping malls found to contain CMIT and/or MIT

- KCA recommended buying agent service providing shopping malls to suspend sales of the products in question and also advised consumers to be cautious when making overseas direct purchases -

    As safety issues regarding products domestically manufactured and circulated frequently emerge, a growing number of consumers are buying everyday household chemical products through overseas direct purchases.

    However, according to the test and inspection conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency (President Lee Hee-sook) on the safety and labelling of 25 spray-type cleaning agents and disinfectants* sold in overseas online shopping malls and domestic shopping malls offering buying agent services, some of the products were found to contain harsh chemicals that are banned for domestic use, including CMIT and/or MIT, prompting consumers to pay attention.

    * 18 products purchased through domestic shopping malls offering buying agent services (14 spray-type cleaning agents and 4 disinfectants), 7 products directly purchased from overseas online shopping malls (5 spray-type cleaning agents and 2 disinfectants)

    □ 7 products found not to meet domestic safety standards due to detected CMIT and/or MIT

    Under the Consumer Chemical Products and Biocides Safety Act (hereinafter referred to as ‘Consumer Chemical Products Safety Act’), cleaning agents and disinfectants are classified as everyday household chemical products subject to safety confirmation, and chemicals, including CMIT and MIT, are banned for use in spray-type products.

    * The EU stipulates that the labels of products containing CMIT and/or MIT must include the chemical names and ‘CAUTION’ signs, and the U.S. and Japan do not have any regulatory restrictions on such chemical substances.

    The results of the test for the content of harmful substances revealed that 7 (28.0%) out of the 25 products tested were found to contain CMIT and/or MIT, or formaldehyde exceeding the permitted limit, showing that those products did not meet domestic safety standards.

    Among those 7 products, all of them were found to contain MIT ranging between 2.8mg/kg and 62.5mg/kg, and 3 products were proven to have CMIT ranging from 5.5mg/kg to 15.5mg/kg. And 76.0mg/kg of formaldehyde was also detected in 1 product.

【 Harmful substance detection range and the number of products exceeding the permitted limit 】

(unit : mg/kg)

    □ Buying agent service providers did not carefully check for harmful substances, and therefore improvements are required to be made.

    The Consumer Chemical Products Safety Act stipulates that a person who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller, or who offers buying agent services regarding everyday household chemical products subject to safety confirmation must not operate as a broker or a buying agent for products which do not meet relevant safety and labeling standards.

    However, all of the 7 products which were found to contain CMIT and/or MIT were being sold in domestic online shopping malls offering buying agent services, and 6 of them were showing that they contain the chemical substances in question on their labels or brand homepages, indicating that even though buying agent service providers could easily see such information, they did not fulfill their obligations not to operate as buying agents. 

    Accordingly, the KCA has recommended the buying agent service providers in question to suspend sales of the products which do not meet domestic safety standards in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment.

    In addition, the KCA has advised consumers ▲to pay extra attention when they purchase products directly from overseas online shopping malls because such products are not tested for compliance with product safety standards unlike domestically manufactured or officially imported products, and ▲not to purchase everyday household chemical products which indicate on product labels or brand homepages that CMIT and/or MIT are contained in the products.

    Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment plans to take actions to stop the distribution of the products which fail to meet domestic safety standards after conducting safety tests on widely consumed everyday household chemical products directly purchased via overseas online shopping malls. Also, the Ministry will provide overseas product brokers and buying agent service providers with information about laws and policies related to everyday household chemical products, and produce and promote safety management standard manuals for such products.