Medium-sized Business Sector Submits Requests on Issues Including 'Relaxation of Existing Chemical Substance Registration Regulations' to the Ministry of Environment

Korea Federation of SMEs and Ministry of Environment Hold the '37th SME Environmental Policy Council'

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced on the 11th that it held the '37th Small and Medium Enterprise Environmental Policy Council' with the Ministry of Environment. Marking its 20th year this year, the 'Small and Medium Enterprise Environmental Policy Council' is a consultative body jointly formed and operated by Kbiz and the Ministry of Environment, serving as a communication channel to identify and improve environmental regulations and difficulties.

At the council meeting, Lee Yang-su, Chairman of the Korea Dye and Pigment Industry Cooperative, proposed, “We ask to reduce the cost burden of purchasing toxicity test data when SMEs register existing chemical substances.” Chairman Lee added, “The cost burden for SMEs to register existing chemical substances is still high,” and “There is a need to reduce unnecessary purchases of test data by recognizing result values instead of summary or full test reports as toxicity test submission documents when registering existing chemical substances.”

Additionally, Han Sang-woong, Chairman of the Korea Fashion Color Industry Cooperative Federation, requested, “Please consider expanding support for ‘odor emission facility installation and improvement funds’ for small businesses located in newly designated odor control areas.” He explained that if appropriate measures are not implemented after designation as an odor control area, strong administrative actions such as imprisonment for up to one year, fines up to 10 million KRW, and orders to cease use will be imposed, but currently, SMEs lack the investment capacity to install additional odor prevention facilities.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment agreed to review and respond to SME proposals including ▲improvement of the recycling surcharge criteria for Styrofoam packaging materials, ▲relaxation of wastewater discharge facility regulations for tofu manufacturing facilities, ▲and expansion of exemption targets for the plastic waste surcharge system.

Jung Yoon-mo, Executive Vice President of Kbiz, said, “Although these systems have good intentions such as ‘public safety’ and ‘environmental protection,’ many require supplementation,” and added, “We hope that Kbiz and the Ministry of Environment can jointly develop reasonable measures to reduce the burden on SMEs without undermining the purpose of these systems.”

Im Sang-jun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment, also stated, “The Small and Medium Enterprise Environmental Policy Council, now in its 20th year, is an effective communication channel for mutual development between the government and industry,” and “We will rationally improve unnecessary regulations through communication and cooperation with SMEs.”