"Shortening Functional Cosmetics Review Period"... KCCI Holds Regulatory Improvement Meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Going forward, the review period for the transfer and acquisition of functional cosmetics will be shortened, and the government will support the insurance subscription costs for sea trials of military vessels.

On the 22nd, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry held the "3rd Meeting on Regulatory Improvement for Key Industries" together with the Public-Private Joint Regulatory Improvement Promotion Group of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, listening to regulatory difficulties in the machinery, shipbuilding, textile, and cosmetics industries and seeking solutions.

At this meeting, the cosmetics industry requested improvements in the processing of the functional cosmetics review system. The industry expressed concerns that when transferring or acquiring functional cosmetics that have already completed review, the same processing period (up to 60 days) as for new functional cosmetics product approval is applied, making rapid business handover and progress difficult. In response, the government decided to shorten the review period for the transfer and acquisition of functional cosmetics and to add the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) testing method for measuring the sun protection factor (SPF), as requested.

In the shipbuilding sector, issues regarding the improvement of the sea trial insurance system for vessels were raised. Military vessels require insurance subscription for sea trials due to the high risk involved in armament and combat performance testing. However, since the insurance subscription costs are not reflected in the manufacturing cost, the shipbuilding industry bears costs that can reach up to 6 billion KRW. The government plans to secure additional budget to reflect insurance subscription costs in the manufacturing cost.

Regarding the request to relax the inspection items for temporary navigation inspections for sea trials of ships under construction, the government will prepare guidelines instructing inspectors conducting temporary navigation inspections not to check items outside the checklist at their discretion and will also provide related training.

At the meeting, policy proposals to ease burdens hindering industrial competitiveness were also discussed.

There was a request to improve the construction machinery supply and demand control system. Since August 2019, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has been controlling supply and demand to prevent oversupply of construction machinery, restricting not only the introduction of new machinery but also machinery replacement, which has led to severe aging of equipment at construction sites. The industry requested the introduction of a durability concept for construction machinery to allow replacement of aged equipment.

There was also a proposal to expand the support targets of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation. Currently, small and medium-sized enterprises with excellent technological capabilities can easily receive funding from financial institutions through government technology guarantees. The industry requested easing the eligibility criteria for guarantee applications (fewer than 1,000 regular employees and total assets under 100 billion KRW) to support medium-sized enterprises.

Additionally, opinions were discussed to allow laundry businesses to enter industrial complexes. Currently, laundry processing businesses are classified as service industries and are prohibited from entering industrial complexes where joint wastewater treatment facilities are available. The request was made to allow companies that discharge wastewater, regardless of industry classification, to enter industrial complexes.

The Public-Private Joint Regulatory Improvement Promotion Group stated, "The issues discussed today will be promptly conveyed to the responsible ministries to provide responses," adding, "In particular, regulatory improvement proposals will be addressed through the 'Regulatory Proof Responsibility System,' which abolishes regulations if the responsible ministry fails to prove their necessity."

Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and co-chair of the Public-Private Joint Regulatory Improvement Promotion Group, who attended the event, emphasized, "Many industries are already facing difficulties due to COVID-19, and the recent exchange rate shocks could further negatively impact export performance. It is time to strengthen industrial productivity and enhance export competitiveness through improvements in laws and systems."

Meanwhile, the meeting was attended by Lee Jung-won, co-chair of the Public-Private Joint Regulatory Improvement Promotion Group, regulatory officials from related ministries including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, as well as representatives from industry associations.

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