Legislative Notice for the Amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Regional Special Zone Act
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced on the 16th that it has given prior notice of a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Regulation-Free Zones and Regional Specialization Development Zones, which applies comprehensive negative regulatory exemptions to the Global Innovation Zones. The "Global Innovation Zone" is a Korean-style innovation cluster where regulations, demonstrations, certifications, permits, and insurance that meet global standards are applied for the development of new products in advanced fields and overseas expansion.
The demonstration exemptions in the existing regulation-free zones have been granted in a positive manner, which has been criticized as unsuitable for the rapidly changing technological environment, making it difficult to take on challenges in advanced fields. Accordingly, procedures have been established to apply the principles of prior permission and post-regulation, which are already stipulated in Article 4 of the Regional Special Zones Act, for negative regulatory exemptions.
Specifically, the amendment to the Enforcement Decree lists prohibited or restricted matters under other laws as a regulatory list, and in principle allows new technology demonstrations except for explicitly enumerated matters. It also establishes grounds to promote joint technology development based on solidarity and cooperation with overseas innovation clusters.
Minister Lee Young said, "This amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Regional Special Zones Act is being promoted to overcome regulatory delays where the system cannot keep up with technology, to foster the development of new technologies by innovative companies, and to revitalize the regional economy." He added, "By designating the Global Innovation Zone for the first time by the end of this year, we will support innovative companies to grow in accordance with global standards without regulatory obstacles from demonstration to commercialization."
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