Ministry of SMEs and Startups Reviews 9 Areas Including Busan and Daegu for the '3rd Regulatory Free Zone'

Review of New Designations for 7 Regions and Expansion of 1st-2nd Phase Projects (Busan·Daejeon)
Final Designation at Special Zone Committee Meeting Chaired by Prime Minister on the 6th of Next Month

On the 29th, Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, delivered opening remarks at the 3rd Regulatory Sandbox Special Zone Deliberation Committee held at Seoul Central Post Office. Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 29th that it held the 3rd Regulatory Free Zone Deliberation Committee meeting for the designation of nine new regulatory free zones, including Busan and Daegu.

At this meeting, deliberations were conducted on plans for a total of nine zones: seven new zones including ▲Busan Marine Mobility, ▲Daegu Mobile Collaborative Robots, ▲Ulsan Genome Service Industry, ▲Gangwon Liquefied Hydrogen Industry, ▲Chungnam Hydrogen Energy Transition, ▲Jeonbuk Carbon Convergence Industry, and ▲Gyeongbuk Industrial Hemp, as well as two existing zones adding demonstrations, ▲Busan Blockchain and ▲Daejeon Biomedical.

Plans for zones tailored to bio (joint research facilities, genome industry) and unmanned (robots, drone delivery) businesses, reflecting the COVID-19 response and the paradigm shift to a contactless economy, were also reviewed. The plan to establish a Regulatory Free Zone Fund was reported as well. The fund will focus investments on innovative companies within the zones and local SMEs and startups, with a pilot fund of 42 billion KRW planned for the second half of this year.

The Regulatory Free Zone system is a government initiative that exempts related regulations and supports budgets and tax benefits to foster new industries in local regions. Since January, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has supported the supplementation of plans for nine zones. The zone plans reviewed at this meeting will be finally designated and announced at the ‘Zone Committee’ chaired by the Prime Minister on the 6th of next month.

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, “As COVID-19 accelerates contactless and digitalization, the government is focusing on promoting Green New Deal and Digital New Deal projects,” adding, “The Regulatory Free Zones will also actively strive to respond to this trend and revitalize related industries and technologies.”

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