Rent Reduction for Shops in Train Stations to Ease Burden in Case of Disasters

Approval of the Amendment to the Act on Restrictions of Special Cases on National Property at the Cabinet Meeting

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The government has decided to reduce the rent for stores located inside train stations in the event of disasters such as the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) outbreak to ease their operational burdens.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on the 4th that it had approved a revision bill to the Restriction on Special Cases Concerning National Property Act at the Cabinet meeting. This bill will be promulgated on the 11th and will take effect six months from the date of promulgation.

The government established 10 new special cases regarding national property in the revision bill. National property special cases are regulations that provide benefits on the usage fees or usage periods of national property.

First, the government prepared regulations to reduce occupancy fees for railway facilities (including stores inside stations) in the event of disasters such as COVID-19, and to reduce usage fees for idle railway land owned by local governments.

It also created regulations for reducing usage fees for local governments on metropolitan land, usage fee reductions for special industrial crisis response areas, usage fee reductions for the National Fire Hospital, and usage fee reductions for companies located in advanced investment zones.

On the other hand, seven special cases with low necessity for retention due to having already achieved their purposes or having reached their expiration dates were abolished. These include usage fee reductions and transfers under the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Act, usage fee reductions under the Taekwondo Promotion Act, and usage fee reductions under the Intelligent Robot Development Act.

The government directly stipulated the expiration dates of all national property special cases in the law in the revision bill and introduced a sunset system requiring objective evaluations by external professional organizations when extending expiration dates. Going forward, through periodic evaluations, special cases with low necessity for retention will be gradually reorganized.

Additionally, the government established four basic principles for national property special cases: 'public interest of the purpose, specificity of the target and requirements, optimality of the method, and temporariness of the period,' and mandated adherence to these principles when creating and operating special cases.

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