The customs agency on Thursday said it has begun to use QR codes for South Korean goods cleared for e-commerce exports in the latest move to enhance the credibility of the goods and prevent the spread of knockoffs.

The Korea Customs Service said it began to provide QR codes to logistics companies via their computer network earlier in the day so that logistics companies can print out commercial invoices with QR codes and stick them on packages.

Foreign buyers can scan QR codes -- a type of matrix bar code -- with their smartphones and enter authentication numbers to check whether their goods are exported under the normal procedures.

Currently, six South Korean companies -- including the country's top cosmetics maker AmorePacific Co. and Maeil Dairies Industry Co., South Korea's largest seller of dairy products -- use QR codes for exports.

The move came amid the rampant spread of knockoffs of popular South Korean products in Chinese online shopping malls.

The measure "could boost the credibility of South Korean products among foreign consumers, which in turn could lead to export growth of local companies," an official of the Korea Customs Service said.

South Korean companies exported goods worth 763.3 billion won ($685 million) to Chinese shoppers through e-commerce in the first half of the year, up 120 percent from a year earlier.

South Korean powdered milk is one of the most popular items in China, which has been hit by food safety scandals in recent years.

In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 were sickened in China from drinking milk formula contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in fertilizers and plastics. (Yonhap)