How Will You Choose Bottled Water Without Labels? ... Label Attachment Banned Next Year, One-Year Grace Period for Individual Bottles

by Yun Seulgi

Published 10 Dec.2025 14:54(KST)

Mandatory No-Label Policy to Take Effect from January 1 Next Year

Starting next year, attaching labels to bottled water distributed in the market will be prohibited.

On December 10, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced that from January 1 of next year, a mandatory no-label policy will be implemented, prohibiting the attachment of labels to bottled water during manufacturing and distribution.

No-label bottled water. Seven-Eleven

However, in order to minimize confusion, a one-year grace period will be granted for products sold individually in stores, as opposed to those sold online or in bundles (small packages).

Since the absence of labels requires payment using a QR code instead of the traditional barcode, many small shops do not have the necessary point-of-sale (POS) terminals to support this system.

No-label products will provide product information, which was previously printed on the label, via a QR code printed on the bottle cap. For bundled products, the information can be displayed on the outer packaging or the carrying handle.

Even in these cases, five key pieces of information-product category, product name, expiration date (including manufacturing date), water source, and contact information-must be clearly indicated on the bottle surface or the bottle cap.

The Ministry has been gradually expanding the no-label bottled water policy since 2020 to reduce plastic usage, which has increased alongside the growth of the bottled water market. Currently, 65% of bottled water produced does not have labels.

Given that bottled water production reached 5.2 billion bottles last year, it is expected that removing labels alone could reduce annual plastic usage by approximately 2,270 tons.

On December 11, the Ministry will hold an industry meeting at the Seoul Station Samkyung Education Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to discuss the implementation of the policy.