Boys Aged 4 and Over Prohibited from Entering Women's Baths... Age Limit Lowered by One Year

Nowon Welfare Bathhouse

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The age restriction for simultaneous entry of males and females into bathhouses and changing rooms will be strengthened from 5 years old to 4 years old.

Additionally, when public hygiene business operators such as lodging or beauty salons report business closure, the existing hearing procedure will be eliminated, significantly reducing the time required to complete the business termination process.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 9th that it will publicly notify the partial amendment of the Enforcement Rules of the "Public Hygiene Management Act" from the 10th until the 28th of next month.

This amendment was prepared to regulate the procedure for ex officio cancellation of public hygiene business reports delegated by the amendment of the "Public Hygiene Management Act" in December last year, and to revise regulations such as easing facility standards for lodging businesses.

First, the current rule prohibits opposite-sex entry into bathhouses and changing rooms from age 5 and above, but this age criterion will be lowered to 4 years old going forward. The exclusion of mentally ill persons from the list of those prohibited from entering bathhouses has been removed to eliminate elements of human rights infringement.

The water quality standards for bathhouses will also be relaxed considering standards for similar facilities such as swimming pools.

To prevent waterborne infectious diseases (Legionella, dysentery, cholera), the concentration of 'free residual chlorine' remaining in the bathtub water after chlorine disinfection will be limited to not exceed 1 mg/L, up from the current standard of 0.2?0.4 mg/L. This is based on standards currently applied to swimming pools (0.4?1.0 mg/L).

Furthermore, the hearing procedure that public hygiene business operators such as lodging and beauty salons had to undergo after reporting business closure to the tax office will be eliminated, shortening the approximately 60-day ex officio cancellation processing period by more than 50 days. Instead, the authorities will notify the operators who have closed their businesses in advance of the ex officio cancellation and establish a separate alternative procedure to announce the cancellation on the relevant government office bulletin board and website for more than 10 days.

Online education will be introduced for the annual 3-hour hygiene training that public hygiene business operators must receive.

In addition, lodging facility standards have been added to allow lodging business registration in collective buildings under the "Act on Ownership and Management of Collective Buildings" when guest rooms are composed of independent floors. The Ministry of Health and Welfare explained, "Previously, lodging businesses in collective buildings required at least 30 guest rooms or a business area covering at least one-third of the building's total floor area, but by adding a floor-based criterion alongside the number of rooms and area standards, the rationality of facility standards has been improved."

Organizations or individuals with opinions on the amendment can submit them to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Health Policy Division Living Health Task Force (TF) by the 28th of next month.

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