Shared Kitchen Business and Korean Version of Airbnb Allowed

Government Announces 'Measures to Alleviate Burdens on Micro and Small Businesses Using the Sharing Economy'... 46 Tasks Confirmed

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Going forward, shared kitchen operations and urban lodging services for domestic residents will be permitted. Participation in public procurement using production facilities of other companies and the opening of public data will also be expanded.

On the 21st, the government discussed and finalized the "Measures to Reduce the Burden on Micro and Small Enterprises Using the Sharing Economy" at the National Policy Issue Inspection and Coordination Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun.

A government official explained, "This plan focuses on reducing the burden on micro and small enterprises by utilizing sharing, and has revised related regulations that restrict the joint use of facilities and equipment among operators. Since January this year, the Office for Government Policy Coordination has reviewed and coordinated tasks discovered by each ministry and field suggestions from the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman, finalizing a total of 46 improvement tasks."

He added, "Considering the nature of the tasks, nine cases that can be promptly addressed have already completed regulatory improvements, and the remaining 37 will be sequentially revised with thorough quarantine measures, aiming for completion within this year."

The 46 improvement tasks include: 2 tasks institutionalizing regulatory sandbox projects such as permitting shared kitchen operations and urban lodging services for domestic residents; 18 tasks related to facility sharing, including allowing small and medium enterprises to use other companies' production facilities in public procurement and expanding the scope of shared inspection rooms for livestock product processors; 14 tasks on equipment sharing, such as expanding opportunities for small and medium enterprises to use university and large enterprise research equipment and permitting aircraft maintenance equipment leasing; 5 tasks on technology and manpower sharing, including expanding joint research and development (R&D) between research institutes and small and medium enterprises and allowing shared personnel in overlapping survey business registrations; and 7 tasks on opening public resources and private utilization, such as additional opening of high-quality public data and sharing spam data for crime prevention and response.

First, shared kitchen operations, which have been temporarily allowed under a demonstration exception since June last year, will be permitted. The government plans to institutionalize shared kitchen operations by establishing shared facility operation and usage businesses.

Additionally, urban lodging services, previously permitted only for foreign tourists, will be improved to include domestic residents. Initially, a regulatory sandbox will grant a temporary demonstration exception for two years starting in July. However, restrictions will apply within a 1 km radius of Seoul subway stations, in detached and multi-family housing, requiring hosts to reside permanently, and obtaining neighbors' consent. Urban lodging or shared lodging services will be allowed up to 180 days per year based on business days.

Furthermore, small and medium enterprises will be allowed to use other companies' production facilities in public procurement. Previously, small and micro enterprises without production facilities found it difficult to participate in public procurement because they had to have their own production facilities. Going forward, small and medium enterprises can collaborate with other companies that have production facilities to manufacture goods, allowing participation in public procurement even without their own facilities, thereby expanding opportunities for capable startups and innovative companies to enter the procurement market.

The scope of shared inspection rooms for livestock product processors will also be expanded. Currently, livestock product processors must have separate quality inspection rooms or outsource to external specialized institutions. Therefore, manufacturers of other food and pharmaceutical products such as health functional foods and sanitary products who want to add livestock product processing had to install separate quality inspection rooms even if they already had similar ones. Going forward, manufacturers adding livestock product processing will be allowed to share existing quality inspection rooms, reducing installation costs.

In addition, opportunities for small and medium enterprises to use research equipment at universities and large enterprises will be expanded. Small and medium enterprises will be able to use university and research institute equipment during nights and holidays, and the support target will be expanded to include large and medium-sized enterprises, reducing costs for small and medium enterprises and strengthening win-win cooperation between large and small businesses.

A government official said, "We will promptly proceed with the implementation of the 46 tasks aiming for completion within this year. We will continue to discover and improve sharing and joint use tasks to reduce the burden on micro and small enterprises and make ongoing efforts to expand the sharing economy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.