"Relaxation of Self-Service Gas Station Restrictions"... Minister Oh Young-joo Visits Site to Announce Regulatory Improvements

Direct Communication by Visiting Companies for Regulatory Suggestions
Sharing Achievements Including Improvement of Small Stream Occupancy Fee Regulations

The restriction on the amount of fuel dispensed per transaction at self-service gas stations, which had caused inconvenience to users and operators, will be eased, and the unreasonable criteria for calculating small stream occupancy fees will be improved.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited the Seoul Metropolitan Small Business Specialized Support Center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 15th and viewed products produced by small business owners. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

On the 28th, Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited a company located in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, to announce these regulatory improvements. This visit was arranged to directly explain the improvements to the businessperson who actively proposed the regulations to enable these changes. Minister Oh has previously emphasized the importance of informing and spreading the improved regulatory details to many companies.

At the event, Kim Shin-wan, CEO of KB Autosis, who participated, explained the background of his proposal to improve Asan City's small stream occupancy fee calculation criteria, saying, "We installed pipelines in the Shinsucheon stream next to the factory for seven days to install a wastewater pipeline, but the small stream occupancy fee was charged for a whole month, which was puzzling." He added, "I believe it is reasonable to pay only for the days used if the usage period of the small stream is less than a month."

Following this proposal, the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman improved 1,030 local government regulations nationwide related to river occupancy. Through this, occupancy fees under 5,000 won were abolished, and the fee charging method was changed from a monthly to a daily basis.

On-site, Minister Oh requested Asan City to take prompt action to alleviate the burden on SMEs. In response, Asan City, which had planned to revise the related ordinance by 2025, promised to strive to complete the ordinance revision within this year.

Next, Jeong Chan-young, CEO of Miracle Gas Station, who proposed expanding the amount of fuel dispensed per transaction at self-service gas stations, explained the necessity of regulatory improvement. Currently, the amount of fuel that can be dispensed per transaction at self-service gas stations is limited to 100 liters for gasoline and 200 liters for diesel. CEO Jeong appealed, "For large equipment or machinery with large fuel tank capacities, refueling in two or three separate transactions causes inconvenience," adding, "Because of this, some drivers avoid self-service gas stations, and others leave for different stations due to long waiting times."

Accordingly, after consultation with the Fire Agency, the Ombudsman decided to increase the allowable diesel fuel amount per transaction at self-service gas stations from 200 liters to 600 liters and extend the refueling time from 4 minutes to 12 minutes. The related legislation containing these changes is currently under legislative notice and is expected to be amended within the second half of the year.

Minister Oh stated, "Regulatory improvements were possible thanks to the proactive proposals from SMEs and small business owners and the efforts of the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman," adding, "Improving various regulations is not easy, but if problems in the field continue to be actively reported, it can greatly contribute to improvements."