The South Korean government has come up with measures to protect Korean businesses and consumers from low-cost, counterfeit products by Chinese e-commerce companies. But Industry insiders and experts are questioning the effectiveness of the policies as the current customs clearance systems are insufficient to effectively filter out substandard products from China.

During an emergency ministerial meeting on economic affairs on Wednesday chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok, the government unveiled consumer protection measures related to overseas online platforms that are centered around mandating overseas platforms to designate Korean representatives and promoting voluntary agreements.

The measures are essentially targeting Chinese e-commerce platforms including AliExpress, Temu, and SHEIN, which are rapidly encroaching on the Korean market.

The problem lies in the lack of fundamental measures to filter out Chinese counterfeit products during the customs clearance process.

“With the current customs clearance and inspection systems, it is almost impossible for express delivery company employees and customs officers to identify counterfeit products, even if they stay up all night inspecting parcel boxes,” a customs official said, adding that government measures are unlikely to improve the situation.

In fact, the current system makes it extremely challenging for customs officials to block counterfeit products from China, as each customs officer would have to inspect up to 10,000 parcel boxes per day. The list of items submitted by express delivery companies such as DHL and FedEx only mention categories such as clothes, shoes, and watches without specifying brands and product names. Customs officials say that they are lucky if they can spot a counterfeit product just by looking at the X-ray screen.

“The AliExpress site does not even assign a product number assigned to each item,” a customs official said. “The system should be changed to make it mandatory to register product numbers so that counterfeit products can be checked right on the platform before they reach the customs clearance stage.”

The government‘s response to this problem has been long overdue. There are mounting calls at Korean airports and seaports that both manpower and money are being wasted in responding to low-priced goods from China.

By Moon Ji-woong, Lee Jin-han, and Yoon Yeon-hae

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]