Government Reduces Burden of SME Certification System with 'Extension of Period and Simplification of Procedures'

Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs Requested Certification System Improvement Last June
Joint Inspection Team Formed for Investigation
28 Proposed Tasks to Resolve Difficulties Underway

The government announced on the 4th that it has prepared improvement measures in response to complaints about excessive burdens related to government certification systems for small and medium-sized enterprises. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The burden of certification systems for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is being reduced, with the extension of performance certification validity periods and simplification of procedures.

The government announced on the 4th that it has prepared improvement measures in response to excessive burdens expressed by SMEs regarding government certification systems.

The improvement plan partially accepts the system improvements requested by the Korea Federation of SMEs to Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun in June, stating that half of SMEs feel burdened by certification acquisition. The government formed a joint inspection team centered on the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards, Public Procurement Service, and the Korea Federation of SMEs to conduct on-site inspections and directly investigate difficulties faced by 560 industry cooperatives, and decided to promote solutions to these issues.

First, the government plans to extend the validity period related to performance certification and simplify the certification procedures. When applying for an extension of performance certification, the validity period, which was 6 months, will be doubled to 1 year units, and factory inspections will be exempted if only specifications (models) are added to products that have already received performance certification. Duplicate certifications will also be abolished.

In the case of welded wire mesh, which previously required separate certifications for different shapes despite having the same thickness, material, and strength, certifications will be integrated into one. For mechanical parking systems, which were previously only certified for large and medium vehicles, mixed types will now also be eligible for certification.

To alleviate cost burdens, the number of inspectors for product inspections (mainly for sample collection) during post-management of group standard certifications will be reduced from two or more to one or more. The fee reduction for the second design review of individual elevator certifications will be significantly expanded from the existing 50% to up to 75%.

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