Buy Alcohol at Convenience Store and Mart Vending Machines... Purchase Customized Pet Food Available

Ministry of Industry Approves 21 Regulatory Special Cases... Allows One-Room Apartments to Have 1 to 3 Bedrooms
Related Ministries to Invest 3.6 Trillion Won in Industrial Convergence Policies This Year for Digital and Carbon Neutrality Realization

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] In the future, alcoholic beverages will be easily purchasable via vending machines at both staffed and unmanned convenience stores and marts nationwide. It will also become possible to purchase customized pet food prepared on the spot for takeout (packaged sales) or delivery.

On the morning of the 31st, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the '2021 2nd Industrial Convergence Regulatory Sandbox Deliberation Committee' at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and approved regulatory exemptions for a total of 21 projects (10 temporary permits, 11 demonstration exemptions), including these measures.

Accordingly, Ilwol Precision, Phasecommu, and Shinsegae I&C, which applied for demonstration exemptions to operate alcoholic beverage vending machines, can now operate vending machines if vending machines and CCTV are installed in stores and an on-site manager is designated. Consumers can purchase alcoholic beverages through vending machines at staffed and unmanned convenience stores and marts nationwide after adult verification via smartphone applications.

Customized pet food prepared on the spot will also be available for purchase. Currently, to sell pet food, manufacturers must register their business and pre-register the type and ingredients of the feed with the city or provincial governor. However, going forward, if customers input pet information through an app or web, sellers can prepare customized pet food on-site based on preferences and offer it for packaged sales or delivery.

The act of producing and selling electricity by installing fuel cells at gas stations will also be permitted. The electricity can be sold to Korea Electric Power Corporation or used for electric vehicle charging.

Additionally, to address housing issues for young people, it has become possible to increase the number of bedrooms from the current one to up to three in urban-type residential housing (studio apartments) if the unit area is 30㎡ or more.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Seung-wook stated, "To help companies prepare for the future, we will further activate the regulatory sandbox as an experimental ground for innovation and strengthen institutional support so that its outcomes can translate into actual sales, investment, and jobs."

Along with this, the government plans to invest a total budget of 3.5929 trillion KRW in industrial convergence policies this year, including digital transformation and carbon neutrality. 1.1185 trillion KRW is allocated for industrial digital transformation, 411 billion KRW for responding to mega trends such as carbon neutrality and non-face-to-face services, and 1.808 trillion KRW and 255.4 billion KRW for fostering a convergence ecosystem and regulatory improvements, respectively.

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