Ministry of SMEs and Startups Calls for 3rd Round Participants in 'Overseas Certification Acquisition Support Project'

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it will begin recruiting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the '2022 3rd Overseas Standard Certification Acquisition Support Project' starting from the 1st.

The Overseas Standard Certification Acquisition Support Project is a program that supports export-hopeful SMEs by covering part of the costs required to obtain certifications demanded by export destination countries, such as certification fees, testing fees, and consulting fees. In this 3rd recruitment, approximately KRW 7.9 billion will be allocated to select around 255 companies.

Through this project, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups supports the acquisition of about 533 types of overseas certifications, including the European safety-related integrated certification (CE), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), targeting SMEs with direct export amounts under USD 50 million (approximately KRW 65.2 billion) in the previous year, to alleviate the burden on companies with relatively high certification acquisition costs compared to export amounts.

Last year, a total of 605 companies obtained certifications. Comparing the export performance of these companies in the certification acquisition year with the previous year, exports increased by 22.3%. This is an outstanding result compared to the average export growth of 16.2% among all SMEs.

In this 3rd project, a total of 54 types of certifications will be supported in the ESG (environment, social, governance) and carbon neutrality fields, including the addition of two new certification targets (EcoVadis, RWS).

The EcoVadis certification evaluates a company's sustainability based on four categories: environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement, assessing the environmental and social impacts.

The RWS (Responsible Wool Standard) certification evaluates the entire wool supply chain from sheep farms to wool production, garment manufacturing, and sales.

Companies wishing to participate can apply through the Overseas Standard Certification Acquisition Support Center website.

Lee Daegun, Director of the Global Growth Policy Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, emphasized, “Through the Overseas Standard Certification Acquisition Support Project, domestic SMEs are achieving visible results in overseas markets,” adding, “We will continue to support certification acquisition for domestic SMEs’ entry into overseas markets, including ongoing support for ESG certifications.”

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