Supreme Court: "Car Tuning Work Should Be Considered Maintenance Business"

The Supreme Court has ruled that tuning work, which is exempted under the Automobile Management Act, does not exempt one from the obligation to register as an automobile maintenance business.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Jo Jae-yeon) announced on the 16th that it overturned the lower court's ruling that acquitted A and others who were charged with violating the Automobile Management Act, and remanded the case to the Daejeon District Court.

Maintenance workers A and others were prosecuted for operating an unregistered tuning business from August 2018 to January 2020, inserting a non-powered turbo device, an air swirl device, into the intake hose inside the car engine room.

The first trial sentenced A and others to fines of 2 million won each, stating that their work fell under the automobile maintenance business that must be registered with the competent authority according to the Automobile Management Act. However, the second trial held that the work performed by A and others did not fall under the Automobile Maintenance Business Act. The second trial cited the exception clause in the Automobile Management Act, which states that minor structural or device work such as replacing parts of the engine or power transmission device does not require approval from the competent authority, as the basis for acquittal.

However, the Supreme Court's judgment was different. The Supreme Court ruled that "regardless of whether the work is subject to tuning approval, conducting it as a business should be regarded as an automobile maintenance business under the Automobile Management Act."