B2B
How importing from South Korea actually works — the approval routes behind a Korean product, how to verify a supplier against the regulator's own records, what documents to ask for, and what applies in your destination market.
Registration route, required documents, labelling and tariffs, country by country.
| Indonesia | BPOM registration and halal certification |
| Thailand | Thai FDA registration and labelling |
| Vietnam | Product declaration and customs |
| Japan | Food sanitation notification and category rules |
| China | Blue-hat registration and filing |
| United States | FDA facility registration and DSHEA labelling |
| EAEU / Russia | EAEU technical regulation and declaration |
| GCC | Gulf market registration and halal |
Every claim below can be checked against public MFDS data rather than taken on trust.
These roles are often held by different companies. Knowing which one you are talking to decides who can sign, who holds the GMP designation and who issues export documents.
| Brand owner | Holds the brand and decides the product range. Contracts and pricing sit here. |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Operates the production site. GMP designation belongs to the site, not to the brand. |
| Exporter | Handles export documentation and shipping from Korea. |
| OEM / ODM | Produces to a buyer's own brand or supplies an existing formulation for rebranding. |
Product range by ingredient · Category coverage
Standard documentation for a Korean finished-goods shipment.
| Certificate of Analysis (COA) | Batch test results for the shipped lot. |
| Free Sale Certificate | Issued in Korea, confirming the product is lawfully sold in its home market. |
| GMP Certificate | Designation of the manufacturing site; cross-checkable against the MFDS list. |
| Ingredient Specification | Functional ingredient, daily intake and approval route. |
| Certificate of Origin | For preferential tariffs under IK-CEPA, AKFTA, RCEP and similar agreements. |
| Product Specification | Format, packaging, shelf life and storage. |
| Export Documentation | Invoice, packing list and shipping documents. |
Confirm which category your product falls into in the destination market, verify the Korean manufacturing site holds a valid GMP designation, check the functional ingredient's approval route in the MFDS record, then collect the import documents your own authority requires. Korean approval does not carry over to your market.
Yes, through BPOM registration. Halal certification usually determines the schedule rather than the registration itself. Healthcito publishes a step-by-step guide covering the category test, the applicant requirement, documents needed from the Korean side, labelling and tariffs.
Start from the MFDS public record rather than a directory listing. Healthcito publishes the approved functional ingredients and the GMP-designated facilities so a supplier's claims can be checked against the regulator's own data before any commercial conversation.
No. GMP designation covers the manufacturing site in Korea. Ingredient permissibility, permitted claims and labelling are decided by your own authority and must be confirmed separately.
Notified (고시형) ingredients are listed in the MFDS public standards and may be used by any compliant manufacturer. Individually approved (개별인정형) ingredients carry wording that only the approval holder may use.
Product catalogue, wholesale pricing, samples and distribution rights are handled by the supplier directly.
gnmlife.com (English) · [email protected]
Last updated: 2026-09-01