If you live in Korea and order anything from abroad — iHerb, Amazon, a Japanese hobby shop — you already know the checkout box that asks for a twelve-character code starting with P. That is the Personal Customs Clearance Code, and on 28 August 2026 the Korea Customs Service changed how it works.
The change is small in wording and large in practice: some orders now need an extra number that arrives in your email before the payment goes through. Here is what actually changed, taken from the Customs Service's own announcement.
What the code is, and why Korea asks for it
Korea requires a personal identifier on every inbound personal-use shipment. Rather than have every courier collect your resident registration number, customs issues you a code — the Personal Customs Clearance Code, usually shortened to PCCC — and the shopping mall passes that code to customs instead.
You give the code to the seller. The seller gives it to customs. Customs matches the parcel to you. That is the whole mechanism.
The portal moved on 28 August 2026
PCCC services used to sit inside the UNI-PASS system. As of 28 August 2026 they live in a new site the Customs Service calls the E-Commerce customs clearance portal. The old UNI-PASS address for personal clearance now redirects there.
According to the announcement, the portal handles:
- Personal customs clearance code management — issuance, renewal, modification
- Pre-registration for people who will collect a code in person at a customs office
- Details of one-time authentication number issuance
- Application for customs duty payment and refund
- Customs clearance information inquiry
So it is not only a code-issuing page any more. Duty payment, refund applications and clearance tracking sit in the same place.
The new part: a one-time authentication number
This is the change that will actually interrupt your checkout.
PCCC theft has been a real problem — someone uses your code to clear their own parcels, and the shipments land against your name. The Customs Service's answer is a one-time authentication number issued per order.
The announced flow is this:
- On the shopping mall's order screen, enter the recipient details — name, address, phone number, and your PCCC — then click Authenticate.
- If those details match what customs has on file for that code, the Korea Customs Service emails a one-time authentication number to the recipient's email address.
- Enter that number on the order screen, then complete payment and place the order.
The important word is match. If the name, address or phone number you type at checkout does not agree with the information attached to your code, no number is sent.
Who this applies to right now
This is the part most summaries get wrong, so it is worth reading the wording closely. The announcement gives an effective date and a scope:
- Effective date — 28 August 2026 (Friday)
- Applied to — Personal Customs Clearance Codes newly obtained on or after that date, or codes whose information has been changed on or after that date
In other words, having a PCCC is not what triggers the new step. Getting a new one, or editing your existing one, is.
If you already have a code and have not touched it
You keep using it as before. The announcement says holders may continue to use their code as they did previously, and in that case the one-time authentication number is provided directly to the shopping mall rather than to you. You do not see it and you do not type it.
That state does not last forever. Two things end it:
- You change your details — new address, new phone number, new email
- You renew, which the announcement places within one month before or after your birthday in 2027
After either of those, you are on the new flow.
The Customs Service also adds a caution worth repeating: this older method cannot completely prevent identity theft, and anyone who wants the one-time number issued to themselves quickly is advised to update their information through the new portal.
Accredited partner shopping malls are different
There is a second track for malls that have an arrangement with customs.
Where an individual has already been verified — at sign-up or at the purchase stage — and that same person is the recipient, the announcement says the order proceeds the same way a domestic purchase would. No extra step at checkout.
Behind the scenes customs supplies a one-time personal customs code and authentication number to that shopping mall, and notifies the code holder by email that it did so.
This is why it matters that customs has a working email address for you. On this track, that email is your only visibility into orders placed against your code.
The announcement also notes that where a mall uses a verification agency under contract with the Customs Service, the one-time number or proof of purchase may arrive by SMS or a social networking service instead of email.
Can foreign residents get a code?
Yes. The identity-verification step on the portal asks for a name and a resident registration number, and the screen carries an explicit instruction: foreign nationals should enter their Alien Registration Number.
The same screen cites the legal basis for collecting the number — Article 289 of the Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act.
Practically, that means your ARC is the key. If you have not completed alien registration yet, this is one more thing waiting on it.
The verification screen includes a CAPTCHA, so this is a step you have to complete yourself; there is no way to have someone else run it for you in a browser.
What to check on your own account
Nothing here requires action today if your code is untouched and working. But three things are worth confirming before your next order, because they are what the new system matches against:
- Email address — this is where the one-time number goes, and where partner-mall notifications go. An old university address you no longer read is a problem.
- Phone number — part of the match at checkout.
- Address and name spelling — a romanisation that differs from what customs holds will fail the match.
One caution: updating any of these moves you onto the new flow permanently. That is fine, and the Customs Service recommends it, but do it when you have a few minutes rather than in the middle of a checkout with a cart that expires.
Where this sits next to the other customs rules
Three separate things get confused constantly, so to be clear about what this article is not:
- The PCCC and the one-time number — what this article covers. It is about identifying who a parcel belongs to.
- The duty-free allowance on goods you carry in yourself through the airport — a different rule, covered in our piece on the 2026 allowance.
- The VAT refund you claim as a visitor on purchases made in Korea — different again, covered here.
The code decides whether a parcel clears. The allowance decides whether you pay on what you carry. The refund decides what you get back on what you bought here.
The short version
- PCCC services moved to the E-Commerce customs clearance portal on 28 August 2026
- A one-time authentication number now applies to codes issued, or details changed, on or after that date
- You enter recipient details, click Authenticate, receive a number by email, and enter it to complete the order
- Untouched existing codes keep working; the number goes straight to the shopping mall instead
- Renewal falls within one month either side of your birthday in 2027
- Accredited partner malls check you once and then behave like a domestic purchase, with an email notification to you
- Foreign residents apply with their Alien Registration Number
All of the above is from the Korea Customs Service's own launch announcement, which it published in both Korean and English. If your situation is unusual — a forwarding service, a corporate address, a code you suspect has been misused — the portal has a dedicated theft-report function, and the customs law helpline is 125 within Korea.
