Korea KCs for conveyors: documents and a step-by-step guide

Understand the conveyor KCs route

The process is often called ‘KCs certification’, but covered conveyors follow the self-declaration route. ‘Self’ means the manufacturer or importer verifies the product’s conformity; filing is still mandatory. KCs is the product mark. KOSHA administers the declaration, while voluntary S-mark certification and safety inspection of equipment in use are separate processes.

This guide uses the supplied September 2022 KOSHA Self-declaration and Performance Testing Guide as its main technical source, especially printed pages 4, 6–12, 37–43 and 132–142. Filing rules and official agency guidance were cross-checked on 12 October 2026. Page references below are printed page numbers, three lower than the PDF viewer numbers. Use the rules applicable when you file; the handbook link in Sources is a clearly identified third-party mirror of the KOSHA publication.

Step 1: confirm whether the conveyor is covered

KOSHA’s self-declaration scope covers powered conveyors that automatically and continuously transport materials, semi-finished products or cargo: belt or chain, roller, trolley, bucket, and screw conveyors. Conveyors with a conveying distance of 3 metres or less are excluded. Record the transport path and dimensions rather than relying on a model name or a supplier’s general description.

For linked modules, curves, vertical sections or an integrated production line, send KOSHA a layout showing the drives, controls and conveying distances and confirm the equipment boundary before claiming an exclusion. Do not assume that dividing a line into short modules settles its classification. This is a practical scope check, especially where the supplied product and the installed system differ.

Identify the manufacturer or importer responsible for the declaration. An overseas supplier and Korean importer should agree who provides the evidence and who files. The handbook describes limited exemptions, including specified research and development, manufacture for export, qualifying S-mark certification and certain other statutory approvals. Check the actual conditions with KOSHA; a CE mark alone is not a filing exemption.

Step 2: define the model and assemble the document pack

Article 120 requires Form 48, a product description/manual, and evidence of compliance with the self-declaration safety criteria. The handbook expands that evidence into the documents below. Prepare them for the exact conveyor configuration being declared, with consistent model identifiers throughout.

• Declaration form and model details. Use the current Form 48 (자율안전확인 신고서). The handbook calls for filing by type, distinguished by structure, appearance, function and performance, and uses kg/h as the conveyor capacity unit. Record conveying distance, belt or roller width, speed, drive ratings and intended loads in the supporting specification. Confirm how any model variants should be grouped.
• Korean-language operating manual. Include operating methods, inspection criteria and checklists, checks and maintenance of protective devices, safe work methods, internal cleaning and inspection precautions, and maintenance instructions. The handbook specifically requires conveyor manuals to address installation with regard to Korea’s occupational safety rules and, where applicable, safety-inspection criteria. An English manual alone does not meet its Korean-language instruction.
• Risk-assessment results. Cover every applicable conveyor safety criterion plus additional hazards of the actual design and intended use. Identify each hazard location, the protective measure, and the evidence that it works. Explain non-applicable items. KOSHA’s conveyor assessment form can combine the risk assessment and test/inspection results in one record.
• Test and inspection evidence. Attach the applicable electrical and functional test results, with the tested model, criteria, measured values and conclusions. If using an external laboratory, include evidence of its accreditation or designation for the relevant test scope. Add the applicable explosion-protection certificates when explosion-protected electrical equipment or components are used.
• Drawings and protective-device installation details. Provide external or assembly drawings showing materials, dimensions and configuration. Add drawings or photographs identifying guards, nip-point protection, emergency stops, interlocks and other safeguards at each assessed hazard location. Electrical and control diagrams help connect the safety functions to the test evidence.
• Applicant identity information. Prepare the business details. Current Article 120(2) requires KOSHA to check the corporate register or sole proprietor’s business-registration certificate through administrative data sharing. A sole proprietor who does not consent must attach the document. This updates the older handbook’s general copy-submission guidance.

Step 3: assess the conveyor and complete the safety checks

Work through the conveyor checklist on printed pages 132–142, using Annex 6 of the Hazardous Machinery Self-declaration Notice as the regulatory reference. It addresses the conveyor’s mechanical and electrical design, control functions, marking and instructions. Use actual measurements and functional results; the completed sample on page 43 is a formatting example, not evidence for your product.

• Guard moving parts and control falling loads. Assess drives, belts, pulleys, rollers, chains, sprockets, screws, hopper openings and transfer gaps. Check access from work areas and walkways, falling loads, and rollback on inclined or vertical sections. Match the measures to the conveyor type; screw inlets, trolley connections and bucket-conveyor access have their own criteria. Apply any guarding exception only under its stated conditions.
• Verify stops, interlocks and restart behavior. Check accessible emergency stops, manual reset, and prevention of unexpected restart after power restoration. Test the interlock that stops feeding from another conveyor when a fault or stop occurs. Where operators cannot see a work or passage area, the checklist calls for both audible and visible startup warnings. Record the tests against the actual control arrangement.
• Complete the electrical tests. Conveyor checklist item 39 requires protective-bonding continuity and insulation-resistance tests. It permits omission of the withstand-voltage and residual-voltage tests; record any omission and its basis. An optional test does not remove the underlying electrical design requirements. Keep the limits, test conditions and measured results together, including the applicable bonding and insulation criteria.
• Determine the additional reports actually needed. The handbook’s page 38 table requires electrical test evidence for machinery generally, but does not list a blanket electromagnetic-compatibility report for conveyors. Its conveyor-specific entry concerns explosion-protected equipment where used. Do not copy the industrial-robot EMC requirement into every conveyor filing. Confirm any additional evidence needed for the actual controls, hazardous environment or other applicable legislation.

Step 4: agree the testing route and close evidence gaps

The handbook accepts test and inspection results from appropriately accredited or designated organizations within their recognized scope. It also allows the declarant’s own results where the declarant possesses the relevant test and inspection equipment. Confirm the proposed route and supporting equipment records with KOSHA before relying on an in-house report. A supplier’s unsigned checklist does not establish that these conditions are met.

Existing overseas reports can help if their scope and configuration match the conveyor. The handbook also describes a specific substitution route for certification documents issued by a foreign safety-certification body covered by a mutual-recognition agreement with the minister or certification agency. Confirm the current agreement and product scope before relying on it. A CE declaration or ISO management-system certificate does not automatically replace the required technical evidence.

Before filing, reconcile the form, drawings, Korean manual, test reports and proposed nameplate. Check the drive and control versions, safeguarding locations, capacity and model names. Correct any failures, repeat affected checks, and retain the resulting evidence. These document-control steps make the conformity conclusion traceable to the conveyor supplied.

Step 5: file with KOSHA and obtain the declaration certificate

Use KOSHA’s current regional-office directory to find the team handling conveyor self-declarations for the applicant’s location. Confirm its submission channel and current forms, then submit the complete pack. Article 120 allows electronic submission and requires filing before factory release or import. Keep the receipt and a dated copy of the submission.

KOSHA’s published sequence is product testing and conformity verification, declaration, then issue of the declaration certificate. The published processing period is 15 days. Article 120(3) identifies the certificate as Form 49 (자율안전확인 신고증명서). Allow separate time for engineering, testing, translation and resolving deficiencies; 15 days is not an end-to-end project estimate.

The September 2022 handbook states that there is no declaration filing fee. Laboratory work, translation, engineering changes and consulting can still cost money, so confirm current charges and obtain separate quotes. Resolve any review questions and check the issued certificate’s applicant and model details before treating the filing as complete.

Step 6: apply the KCs mark and keep the conformity file

After completing the declaration, use the prescribed KCs artwork and display rules. The conveyor checklist also requires the manufacturer’s or supplier’s name and address, type/model and manufacturing number, manufacturing month and year, and maximum load or transport capacity per unit time. The KOSHA name or corporate logo is not a substitute for the required KCs product mark.

Article 164(2) requires manufacturers and importers of self-declaration products to retain evidence of conformity for two years. Keep the certificate with the submitted documents, test records and configuration details. Review changes to the conveyor’s structure, performance, drive or safety controls for their effect on the declaration, and confirm any necessary filing update with KOSHA. Retaining the file for the product’s service life is a useful practice beyond the legal minimum.

Step 7: assess the installed conveyor system separately

A product’s KCs declaration does not complete the workplace’s safety-inspection obligations. KOSHA’s inspection scope concerns conveyor systems transporting loads intermittently or continuously and has separate exclusions, including total drive-motor rated output of 1.2 kW or less, or total conveying distance of 10 metres or less under its counting rules. Other exclusions concern particular equipment, locations or protected sections. These inspection thresholds do not replace the 3-metre self-declaration scope rule.

For a system subject to periodic safety inspection, KOSHA lists the first inspection within three years after installation is completed and subsequent inspections every two years. Assess the installation, access, guarding and safe maintenance before use; that timetable does not postpone workplace safety duties. Record the installation date, the inspection-scope decision and who will arrange inspections.

A practical starting package for KOSHA is a conveyor specification, dimensioned layout, control description, proposed applicant and list of existing reports. Resolve scope first, then close the document and testing gaps for the configuration you intend to supply.

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