A 'Cosmetics Refill Store' Opens in Our Neighborhood Too

KCCI Holds 'Industrial Convergence Regulatory Sandbox Deliberation Committee'
Approval Granted for Demonstration Exceptions Including Cosmetic Refill Stores and Hydrogen Electric Trucks

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Cosmetic refill stores where consumers can directly dispense and purchase general cosmetics such as shampoo, rinse, body cleanser, and liquid soap as much as they need are opening easily. 'Converged health functional foods,' which sell general foods like beverages and health functional foods in tablet or capsule form as a single product, are also being launched in the market.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sandbox Support Center and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the 'Industrial Convergence Regulation Sandbox Deliberation Committee' on the 15th at Post Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul.

The Sandbox Deliberation Committee approved 13 cases including converged health functional foods (6 companies including Pulmuone Nokjeup), cosmetic refill stores without a cosmetic compounding manager (2 companies including Almang Store), logistics services using hydrogen electric trucks (Hyundai Motor Company, CJ Logistics, Hyundai Glovis), mechanical parking systems capable of charging electric vehicles (Shinwoo Ubiquos), outdoor advertising using privately owned vehicles (Maru Digital), and electric vehicle charging using solar power generation and ESS (2 companies including Seoul Energy Corporation).

Cosmetic Refill Stores... Shampoo, Rinse, Body Cleanser, Liquid Soap, Purchase by Dispensing as Needed

On this day, two companies including Almang Store and Innisfree applied for 'cosmetic refill stores without a cosmetic compounding manager' and passed the sandbox. Consumers place refill containers on the refill station and fill cosmetics as much as they want. Then, after weighing on a scale, a label with product information such as manufacturing number and expiration date is printed and attached before final payment. The cosmetics available for purchase are four types: shampoo, rinse, liquid soap, and body cleanser.

Under current law, when selling cosmetic refills, a customized cosmetic compounding manager must be present in the store, so there were restrictions on the expansion of refill stores due to the burden of employing qualified compounding managers. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the demonstration exception, stating that it can provide consumers with safe cosmetics while contributing to eco-friendly consumption expansion such as recycling cosmetic containers and reducing packaging materials.

Converged Health Functional Food Sales... Selling General Foods in Beverage Form and Health Functional Foods in ‘Integrated Packaging’

The market launch of converged health functional foods, which package and sell health functional foods and general foods as an integrated product, was also authorized. Converged health functional foods are packaged by placing health functional foods such as tablets, capsules, or pills in the cap part of liquid foods like mixed drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, and fermented milk. Consumers can conveniently consume health functional foods without separately purchasing water or beverages.

Under current law, food manufacturing and processing businesses or health functional food sales businesses are prohibited from subdividing or manufacturing health functional foods, so general foods and health functional foods cannot be packaged together. The demonstration exception was granted on the condition that health functional foods are manufactured in compliance with GMP, general foods with HACCP, and that manufacturing and sales guidelines presented by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety are followed.

Six companies including Pulmuone Nokjeup and CJ CheilJedang will launch a total of about 100 converged health functional foods during the demonstration period.

Mechanical Parking Lot with Electric Vehicle Charging... One-Stop Use from Parking to Charging and Release

A mechanical parking system for electric vehicles (Shinwoo Ubiquos) that automatically performs parking, electric vehicle charging, and release will also be launched. After parking on a pallet and connecting the charging gun to the vehicle, the pallet moves to the charging space to charge and automatically moves to the waiting area when fully charged. All processes and charging status can be checked through a mobile app.

Under the current Parking Lot Act, there were no safety standards for electric vehicle chargers and accessories installed in mechanical parking lots. The demonstration exception was granted based on the judgment that it can contribute to convenient electric vehicle charging and the expansion of charging infrastructure by enabling automatic parking and charging simply by entering the parking lot. However, safety verification for chargers within parking facilities must be conducted by the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards or others. The applicant company Shinwoo Ubiquos plans to conduct demonstration tests at up to five locations in the metropolitan area.

Logistics Service Using Hydrogen Electric Trucks, Renewable Energy Electric Vehicle Charging Systems Also Approved

The 'logistics service using hydrogen electric trucks' applied for by Hyundai Motor Company, CJ Logistics, and Hyundai Glovis also received a demonstration exception.

Hyundai Motor Company manufactured 10-ton class hydrogen electric trucks (Xcient), and CJ Logistics and Hyundai Glovis each purchased two units to use for freight transportation. Under the current Freight Motor Vehicle Transport Business Act, increasing the number of freight vehicles is generally prohibited, so to use hydrogen electric trucks, existing trucks had to be replaced.

The deliberation committee decided to allow only a two-year pilot operation, based on the opinion that converting existing diesel freight trucks to hydrogen electric trucks is preferable to expanding the supply of hydrogen trucks through additional vehicle increases.

The electric vehicle charging service using solar power generation and ESS (LG Energy Solution - Jeju Electric Vehicle Service, Seoul Energy Corporation) also received a demonstration exception. This service uses electricity generated by solar power facilities directly for electric vehicle charging without going through the electricity market, or stores surplus or off-peak electricity in ESS and charges electric vehicles directly.

Additionally, 'outdoor advertising using privately owned vehicles,' where a fixed monthly fee is received by attaching advertising boards to one's own vehicle (Maru Digital), received an additional exception following approval in December last year.

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