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South Korea has asked China to defer the application of its mandatory product certification rules for lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones, the industry ministry said on Sunday.

The Korea Agency for Technology and Standards under the ministry called on China to give a grace period to South Korean companies regarding the China Compulsory Certificate (CCC) required for lithium-ion batteries and battery packs, mobile power supplies and power chargers for telecommunication terminals used in electronic and electrical products, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The CCC will go into effect in August, and products that fail to receive the certification may be banned from exports, imports and use in China starting in August 2024, it added, reports Yonhap news agency.

South Korea made the request to help its companies better adjust to the changing rules during a committee meeting on technical batteries to trade (TBT) under the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) held in Beijing last week.

China also asked the Seoul government to ease the "Korea Certification" regulations on its electric items, the ministry said.

The FTA-TBT committee meeting has been held on an annual basis, except for in 2018, since 2015, when the bilateral trade deal came into force.