Ministry of SMEs and Startups Improves 45 Key Regulations for SMEs... Saves 500 Billion Won

Considering Introduction of 'Regulatory Forecast System' Analyzing SME Impact
Promoting Procedure Improvement to Enhance SME Regulatory Impact Assessment

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Park Ju-bong, the Small Business Ombudsman, are conversing at the 3rd Korean New Deal Ministerial Meeting and the 16th Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting held on the 17th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman announced the ‘SME Field Empathy Regulatory Burden Improvement Plan’ at the 3rd Korean New Deal Ministerial Meeting and the 16th Emergency Economic Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting on the 17th.

The government is promoting the minimization of regulatory burdens through the separate operation of SME regulatory innovation systems that consider the characteristics of SMEs subject to various regulations. Accordingly, this year, due to the economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which relatively increased the regulatory burden on SMEs, active administration was carried out based on the SME regulatory innovation system to intensively review and improve regulations that cause excessive corporate burdens.

Prevention of regulatory damage through regulatory impact assessment includes 6 cases of regulatory exemption and target reduction, 6 cases of regulatory suspension and joint implementation, and 6 cases of regulatory realization and clarification by sector.

The Small and Medium Business Ombudsman improved a total of 27 burdensome regulations on-site, including 8 cases promoting start-ups, investment, and research, and 10 cases strengthening corporate autonomy and competitiveness. A representative case supporting SMEs and reducing administrative burdens was the improvement plan to delete personal address information on construction machinery business registration certificates and display business registration information for corporate businesses.

In addition, to strengthen the foundation for minimizing regulatory burdens, ▲ the introduction of an SME regulatory forecast system with corporate participation is being reviewed ▲ and procedures to enhance the substance of SME regulatory impact assessments are being improved.

Park Joobong, Small and Medium Business Ombudsman, said, “Despite continuous and systematic efforts for regulatory innovation, the expectation level of SMEs has risen, and the perception of regulatory improvement remains low,” adding, “We will actively administer and improve regulations from the perspective of businesses to ensure there are no blind spots in regulatory innovation.”

Park Youngsun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “Through the field establishment of SME regulatory impact assessments and the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman system, we have improved about 2,000 field regulations under the current government and reduced regulatory damage by approximately 500 billion KRW,” and added, “We will continue to supplement the SME regulatory innovation system so that the voices from the field of SMEs can be further reflected and take the lead in improving regulatory burdens on SMEs.”

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