Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act and Energy Safety Act Approved at the Cabinet Meeting
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The return period for high-pressure containers used for imported industrial gases necessary for semiconductor manufacturing will be extended from the current 6 months to a maximum of 2 years to stabilize domestic supply and demand.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Moon Seung-wook) announced that the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the "High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act and Energy Safety Act," which includes this content, was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 30th. This revision was promoted as part of regulatory improvements in the government's "K-Semiconductor Strategy" announced last May.
According to current regulations, all high-pressure gas containers must be individually inspected for safety confirmation before import. Exceptionally, if the container is returned overseas within 6 months, the inspection is waived. However, due to the recent increase in stockpiles caused by export restrictions from Japan and the characteristic of small quantity usage of special gases used in semiconductor manufacturing processes, the average usage period has been prolonged to about 2 years, making it difficult to return imported containers within 6 months.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy revised the Enforcement Decree of the High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act to extend the return period for inspection-exempt high-pressure containers from the current 6 months to a maximum of 2 years. However, since safety confirmation needs to be strengthened, containers exempted from inspection are limited to those "inspected by reliable foreign inspection agencies."
In addition, the Ministry entrusted the Korea Gas Safety Corporation with the task of publicly disclosing safety inspection results for multi-use facilities using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), enabling the general public to easily verify the safety of gas facilities. Furthermore, detailed standards for fines imposed for non-compliance with the pipeline precision safety diagnosis system, which will be implemented next month, were established. In line with the enforcement of the revised City Gas Business Act, which imposes fines of up to 30 million KRW for refusal, obstruction, or evasion of safety management regulation checks, detailed standards for fines by violation count were also set.
A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy official stated, "With this revision of the enforcement decree, we aim to stabilize the domestic supply of industrial imported gases, thereby promoting the competitiveness of related industries such as semiconductors and creating a safer energy living environment for the public. We will continue to pursue rational improvements in regulations related to energy safety and supplement safety systems."
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