Humanoid robot prices in South Korea, delivered

Marks and registrations

• KC mark (electrical safety, Safety Confirmation)Electrical safetyThe whole machine is an electrical/electronic appliance under the Electrical Appliances and Consumer Products Safety Control Act, administered by KATS under MOTIE. A mains-charged, motor-driven humanoid typically needs KC Safety Confirmation (the self-regulatory scheme: product testing at a Korean KATS-accredited lab such as KTL, KTR, or KTC, no factory audit) rather than the stricter Safety Certification. Foreign FCC/CE reports are generally not accepted as substitutes; testing is done to KC standards (electrical safety plus, for the electronics, the KC 62368-1 IT/AV-equipment standard that replaced the older 60950/60065 family). The KC mark plus certificate number must be permanently marked.
• KC (RRA) radio + EMC conformity assessmentRadio / EMCWiFi and Bluetooth are radio functions regulated under the Radio Waves Act by the National Radio Research Agency (RRA) under MSIT. These fall under Registration of Conformity (the mid-tier scheme for common WiFi/Bluetooth/SRD and EMC products). RF and EMC testing must be done at an RRA-accredited lab, a Korea-based applicant/representative is required, and Korean-language labeling and user documentation are needed. A genuine single-unit personal-use import can instead take the UNI-PASS exemption (see gotchas).
• KC 62133 (lithium battery, Safety Confirmation)BatteryThe lithium-ion pack is separately regulated. Portable/secondary lithium cells and packs are covered by KC 62133-2 (harmonized with IEC 62133-2) under KATS, most commonly as a self-regulatory Safety Confirmation (testing at a KATS-accredited lab, no factory audit). Where a manufacturer already holds an IECEE CB report, CB-to-KC conversion is generally accepted (with the Korean national deviation applied). The battery carries its own KC certificate number.
• KCs (KOSHA) safety certification (only if used as an industrial robot)Machinery / robot safetyKCs is Korea's occupational/machinery safety mark under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, administered by KOSHA. Industrial robots with manipulators of 3 or more axes are specified for a self-regulatory safety confirmation under a Ministry of Employment and Labor notification. A humanoid deployed on a workplace or production line can be pulled into this regime; a consumer/service humanoid currently sits in a regulatory gap that Korea is working to fill with a dedicated humanoid-robot certification scheme. Treat KCs as conditional on the use case, not automatic.
• Import declaration + UN 38.3 / SDS at customsCustoms / dutyEvery commercial import is declared to the Korea Customs Service (KCS) through the UNIPASS electronic system. For the lithium pack, carriers and customs expect a UN 38.3 test summary and a Safety Data Sheet before the shipment is accepted and cleared. A private importer needs a Personal Customs Clearance Code (PCCC); a passport number alone is no longer accepted.

Who imports it

The importer of record must be an entity able to file an import declaration with the KCS through UNIPASS. A private individual does this personally using a Personal Customs Clearance Code (PCCC), a 13-character code starting with P, issued free at unipass.customs.go.kr (foreign residents now need an Alien Registration Card, a Korean address, and a Korean mobile number to register). A foreign buyer with no Korean entity cannot be the commercial importer or the KC/RRA applicant directly: they must appoint either a licensed Korean customs broker or a Korea-resident third-party importer-of-record provider, and for certification a Korea-based applicant/local representative must be named (via a Letter of Authorization). Note the lock-in risk: if a Korean importer holds the KC/RRA certificate as applicant, switching distributors later can mean re-certifying.

How long it takes

Personal single-unit route with the UNI-PASS radio exemption: roughly 2 to 6 weeks, dominated by dangerous-goods freight booking and customs clearance (the RRA exemption confirmation itself is fast). Full commercial route with real KC certification: plan on about 3 to 6 months. In-country RF/EMC and electrical-safety testing plus KC 62133-2 battery testing and Korean documentation typically run several weeks to a few months in parallel, before freight and clearance, and longer if a KCs machinery-safety pathway or the still-forming humanoid framework is triggered.

Private buyer or business

Private individual: import one unit for genuine personal, non-sale use and you can apply through KCS UNIPASS for a conformity-assessment exemption on the radio (RRA) side (one unit, not for sale, under the Radio Waves Act exemption provisions), which removes the biggest single hurdle; you still need a PCCC, pay 10% import VAT, and any applicable customs duty (Korea's general rate averages around 8%, though many machinery classifications are lower or zero, so confirm by HS code), and the dangerous-goods shipping and UN 38.3/SDS rules still apply. Business/registered company: no personal-use exemption once you intend to sell, deploy commercially, or import in quantity. You need full KC electrical-safety certification, RRA radio conformity assessment, and KC 62133-2 battery certification, all with in-Korea testing, a Korea-based applicant, Korean labeling and manuals, and (for workplace/industrial use) a KCs machinery-safety assessment. A business also imports under a business registration rather than a PCCC.