What is a PCCC and why Korean orders get held

The code

개인통관고유부호 (personal customs clearance code) is issued to individuals by the Korea Customs Service through its UNI-PASS portal (https://unipass.customs.go.kr). It is used instead of the national ID number when importing goods for personal use.

• Format: the letter P followed by 12 digits — 13 characters, for example P123456789012 (not a real code).
• Customers often type a lower-case p, spaces or hyphens; those are typing differences, not a different code.
• Companies import with a 10-digit business registration number instead.

What customs checks

Customs compares the code with the recipient on the shipment. The name and phone number have been compared for years; from February 2, 2026 the delivery postal code is compared with the address registered with the code as well. Codes issued from 2026 are valid for one year and have to be renewed in UNI-PASS.

Why parcels are held

• No code on the order — the customer skipped the field or the checkout did not ask for it.
• Wrong format — a digit missing, the letter O instead of zero, or another number pasted in.
• Mismatch — the recipient name, phone number or postal code on the order differs from the registration (a nickname, an office phone, a different address).
• Expired code — the customer's code is past its one-year validity.

Where Shopify keeps the code

When the shipping address is in Korea, Shopify's checkout asks the customer for the code and stores it on the order (shown in the order's shipping details). Some third-party checkouts store it as a note attribute instead. The store still has to copy it to the carrier's label or customs data and chase the customers who left it empty.

What a store can do before shipping

• Check every Korea order for a code in the P + 12 digits format before it goes to fulfilment.
• Check that the order has a Korean phone number and a 5-digit postal code — the fields customs now compares.
• Ask the customer for a missing code before the parcel ships, not after it is held, and remind them to use the name, phone and postal code registered with it.
• Keep the code with the order so it can be copied to the carrier's label.

What a format check cannot do

A format check catches missing and mistyped codes. It cannot tell whether a correctly formatted code exists, is unexpired or belongs to the recipient — only the Korea Customs Service can, and the customer can check their own code in UNI-PASS.

FAQ

SL Korea PCCC Guard for Shopify

Checks the code, phone and postal code on every order shipped to Korea, tags the order and emails the customer when the code is missing or invalid. $7 per 30 days, 7-day free trial. Format check only — no UNI-PASS lookup.