Jungjingong "Leading Regulatory Reform at SME Sites"

The 1st Regulatory Verification Committee Meeting with Private Experts Held on the 17th

Kim Hak-do, Chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Small and Medium Business Corporation (Chairman Kim Hak-do, hereinafter referred to as SBC) announced on the 17th that it will actively work to resolve regulatory difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and ventures.

First, SBC held the 1st Regulatory Verification Committee meeting of 2022 at its headquarters in Jinju, Gyeongnam, on the morning of the same day. The committee, which included private experts such as lawyers, reviewed eight regulatory tasks actively identified by SBC through proactive administration. Major agenda items included easing the prior consent requirements for investors in companies subscribing to convertible bonds and preferred stocks directly invested in by SBC to strengthen the management autonomy of supported companies.

The Regulatory Verification Committee is a body that deliberates on ways to improve regulations that SBC can directly resolve. In the past, companies facing regulatory difficulties had to prove the necessity of regulatory relief themselves, but now SBC, which created the regulations, must prove the necessity of maintaining them. Regulations that are not sufficiently justified for maintenance are immediately abolished or eased. This approach is similar to the government's regulatory verification responsibility system.

Since its establishment in October 2020, the committee has reviewed a total of 40 regulations and improved 31 of them through amendments to related regulations. Notably, last year, the paper document submission process at the policy fund application stage was abolished, reducing the burden on applicant companies to issue financial transaction confirmation letters. Currently, policy fund reviews are conducted through a financial transaction inquiry system without requiring separate paper documents from companies.

Earlier this year, SBC defined seven criteria to identify regulatory factors for improvement to intensively discover regulatory factors across the institution's projects. These include ▲Environmental Regulations ▲Discriminatory Regulations ▲Standard Regulations ▲Gap-eul Regulations ▲Cost Regulations ▲Document Regulations ▲Other Regulations. Any task falling under any of these categories will be eased or abolished through committee deliberation.

Additionally, SBC is actively addressing regulatory difficulties of SMEs and ventures that are difficult for the institution to resolve directly. It has established the 'Enterprise Growth Response Center' as a reception desk for regulatory difficulties in its 33 regional headquarters and branches. The center collaborates with the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman to consider improvement measures for regulations identified and proposes them to the government. Last year, a total of 408 regulations were identified, and 109 were reflected in government policies such as legal amendments.

Kim Hak-do, Chairman of SBC, stated, "Regulatory reform that SMEs and ventures can feel and empathize with is important," adding, "SBC will participate in the government's comprehensive regulatory reform policies and fulfill its role in resolving regulatory difficulties centered on the field and demanders."

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