Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province Join Forces to Secure Designation as 'Battery Global Innovation Zone'

Regulatory Relaxation Champion 'Global Innovation Zone' Scheduled for Designation in December

Planning to Connect 'Battery Regulatory Free Zone' to 'Global Innovation Zone'

Mayor Lee Gang-deok: "Self-Reliance in Secondary Battery Materials,

Pohang City, together with Gyeongbuk Province, is making an all-out effort to take on the challenge of becoming the first in Korea to be designated as a ‘Global Innovation Special Zone’ where comprehensive minimum regulations (negative regulations) that meet international standards are applied.

Secondary Battery Integrated Management Center.

The Global Innovation Special Zone is an area where systems and support that comply with global standards?from regulations, demonstrations, certifications, permits, to insurance?are applied to develop new products in future technology fields and expand overseas. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to evaluate local governments that have applied for the special zone and designate them by December.

In particular, the Global Innovation Special Zone is the first in Korea to apply negative regulations, allowing all demonstrations even if there are no laws or standards for new technologies or if existing ones are inadequate. This can serve as a breakthrough in advanced strategic industries struggling under Korea’s complex web of regulations, leading to fierce competition among 14 regions nationwide to attract the designation.

Gyeongbuk Province plans to establish global standards for used batteries and contribute to stabilizing the supply chain of secondary battery raw materials and components through negative regulations by attracting the innovation special zone centered on Pohang City.

Recently, China included graphite, a key raw material for secondary battery anodes, in its export control list starting December, which is expected to cause difficulties for the domestic industry that depends on China for secondary battery raw materials and components. Especially from a supply chain perspective, Korea is vulnerable to conflicts among major countries worldwide at any time, so the designation of an innovation special zone that allows demonstration, certification, and permits for battery recycling and reuse is expected to contribute to stabilizing the secondary battery supply chain.

With the global surge in electric vehicle sales, the used battery market is rapidly growing. Pohang City’s strategy is to take the next step by advancing the existing Battery Regulatory Free Zone to a Global Innovation Special Zone that provides one-stop support up to global expansion.

To this end, the plan is to upgrade the ‘Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Zone,’ which was the first designated nationwide in 2019, and connect it to the Global Innovation Special Zone.

Since the designation of the Regulatory Free Zone, over 30 companies, including leading firms such as Ecopro and POSCO Future M, have moved into Yeongilman Industrial Complex and Blue Valley Industrial Complex in Pohang and started production, achieving outstanding results and being designated as an excellent special zone for four consecutive years.

Additionally, by attracting the Ministry of Environment’s Used Battery Resource Circulation Cluster and Inline Automatic Evaluation Center, as well as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s project to establish a commercialization base for high-safety, widely distributed lithium iron phosphate (LFP), Pohang is set to play the role of a national control tower for battery resource circulation.

Along with this, based on special zone demonstrations, six related laws concerning used battery performance evaluation, grading, sales, and reuse/recycling standards by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have been revised to create a foundation for fostering the used battery industry. During the process of revising laws and systems, a consensus emerged on the need for a hub space to support additional demonstrations and commercialization of used batteries. Consequently, the city and province boldly invested 10.7 billion KRW of local funds to build and operate the Secondary Battery Comprehensive Management Center.

Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province are not satisfied with the achievements of the Regulatory Free Zone and plan to challenge the Global Innovation Special Zone, which is a continuation of the regulatory special zone, to expand the fruits of the battery special zone beyond Korea to the world.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok emphasized, “Securing the supply chain of secondary battery raw materials and components through recycling of used batteries is urgent to respond to export regulations from major countries such as China,” adding, “We must strengthen national competitiveness by raising Korea’s self-sufficiency rate in secondary battery materials through the designation of a battery recycling and reuse innovation special zone that can actively respond to this.”