1. The plaintiff's claim is dismissed.

2. The costs of lawsuit shall be borne by the Plaintiff.

Details of the disposition

A. The Plaintiff is a regional partnership established pursuant to the Agricultural Cooperatives Act (hereinafter “Agricultural Cooperatives Act”) in order to enhance the livestock industry productivity of its members and to promote the expansion of markets and the facilitation of distribution of livestock products produced by its members.

The plaintiff produces organic fertilizers and sells organic fertilizers on packaging them as packing materials of synthetic resin.

Under Article 38(2) of the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources (hereinafter referred to as the “Resources Recycling Act”), and Article 48(3)18 of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources (hereinafter referred to as the “Enforcement Decree of the Resources Recycling Act”), the Defendant shall be entrusted with the duties of calculating, imposing, and notifying the recycling dues determined by the Minister of Environment.

B. The Act on the Recycling of Resources, amended by Act No. 6653 on February 4, 2002, introduced the producer responsibility recycling system (hereinafter referred to as the “EPR”), thereby granting the producer the obligation to recycle with a view to suppressing the use of wastes from the stage of production and facilitating the recycling of wastes generated.

C. Article 18 Subparag. 1 (l) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Resource Recycling Act (amended by Presidential Decree No. 25050, Dec. 30, 2013; hereinafter “former Enforcement Decree of the Resource Recycling Act”) was newly established on November 20, 2013 when Article 18 Subparag. 1 (l) of the former Enforcement Decree of the same Act (amended by Presidential Decree No. 24869, Nov. 20, 2013) provides for “products (limited to packaging materials made of synthetic resin, but excluding plastic containers under Article 10(1)1) of the same Act) other than items (a) through (k) as products and packing materials subject to mandatory recycling.”

On February 26, 2016, the Defendant is a producer obligated to recycle under the former Resources Recycling Act (amended by Act No. 12076, Aug. 13, 2013; hereinafter referred to as the "former Resources Recycling Act"), which is a producer obligated to recycle, of organic fertilizers, in the year 2014.