KATS Unveils New Batch of 54 NT and Other Certificate Items
- The certification system contributing to boosting exports and sales

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) has announced a list of 54 products certified with New Technology (NT), Excellent Machine, Mechanism and Materials (EM) mark, or with the Good Recycled (GR) mark.
The newly certified items from 51 companies - 17 items with NT certificates from 17 companies - has brought to 654, 993 and 231, the numbers of products with NT, EM and GR certificates, respectively.
Yoon Kyo-won, KATS administrator, said a recent survey that the certified products registered a 27.5 percent year-on-year surge in sales and a 31 percent jump in exports last year.
The survey of 330 certified items, conducted last July, showed that their combined sales shot up to 2.43 trillion won in 2003, up 27.5 percent over 1.9 trillion won in 2002 while their combined amounts of the certified exports soared to $1.443 billion in 2003, up 31 percent over $1.101 billion in 2002. The figures are higher than the average growth rate of 14.7 percent posted by Korean manufacturers.
The amounts of the certified items substituting for imports surged to 71 million won in 2003, up 18.6 percent from 59 million won in 2002. The rate of government agencies and public organizations choosing to prefer the certified items has shot up to 192.8 billion won in 2003, up 38 percent from 140.1 billion won in 2002.
The certified companies posted 57.2 trillion won in sales, up 8.4 percent over 52.7 trillion won in 2002, according to the survey. The increase rate for the certified companies is higher than an average growth rate of 6.1 percent for domestic manufacturers. The firms witnessed their exports surging to $22.3 billion in 2003, up 12.6 percent from $19.8 billion in 2002, and domestic sales rising to 30.4 trillion won up 5 percent over 39 trillion won in 2002. Domestic manufacturers registered an average 0.8 percent growth rate in domestic sales.
KATS under the Ministry of Commerce, Energy and Industry has been implementing the certification system on quality and function of new technology products to speed up technological development at the private sector and help the companies make a foray into the markets with newly developed products. The agency has been operating the system since 1993 with the goal of providing potential consumers from Korea and abroad with specific information on the quality of products.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to revamp its certification system, merging seven kinds of new technology certificates, being handled separated by each government ministry into two certificates - the New Technology (NET) mark and New Product (NP) in the first half of next year. The patent deliberation period will be dramatically reduced from the current 22 months to 10 months.
The first meeting of relevant science and technology ministries, presided over by Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Science and Technology Oh Myung, approved ways of overhauling certification systems each ministry has operated on its own as well as the patent system.
The seven certificates include the Korea Standard (KT) mark, operated by the MOST, New Technology (NT) mark for recognizing new technologies and EM mark, handled by the MOCIE, Construction Technology (CT) market for new technologies related to construction, awarded by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, and IT mark for info-tech patents, provided by the Ministry of Information and Communication, and Environment Technology (ET) mark, awarded by the Environment Ministry.
The validity of the current certificates ranging from three years to six years will be readjusted up to 10 years for the NEC certificate and up to six years for the NEP certificate.
The government decided to build up a database system on the operation, deliberation and management of new technology certificates in the first half of next year.
The meeting also decided to establish and operate a consultation committee, named tentatively the "New Technology Promotion Consultation Committee," designed to handle assessment guidelines on new technology certificates, deliberation procedures and the operation of screening a pool.
The government is considering extending the validity of patents whose products cannot receive support in time due to the shorter time of validity. nw