Commercial Freight Vehicle Registration Age Extended from 3 Years to 5 Years

Promotion of Proposed Tasks by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Regulatory Reform Committee

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] The government will extend the vehicle age limit for registering commercial freight vehicles from the current 3 years to 5 years. Additionally, for courier logistics facilities located in development-restricted areas, if the site area exceeds 5000㎡, the allowable area for temporary structures will be increased.

On the 2nd, the government announced that it will promote these regulatory improvement tasks after deliberation and approval by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Regulatory Reform Committee.

First, the vehicle age limit for registering commercial freight vehicles will be extended from the current 3 years to 5 years. This measure considers the implementation of the aged freight vehicle management system starting this April and aims to ease the age restriction, which had imposed excessive burdens on the industry.

When manufacturing medium-sized vehicles, the "allowable tolerance range for vehicle weight" will be applied as ±3% of the vehicle weight, the same as for large vehicles. Currently, the specifications for medium-sized vehicles, which regulate length, width, height, and weight, set the allowable weight tolerance at ±100kg regardless of vehicle weight.

Hydrogen electric vehicles must be manufactured so that hydrogen fuel supply (from hydrogen tank to fuel cell) is automatically cut off when the engine is off, according to the "Regulations on Safety of Pressure Vessels for Automobiles." This is to prevent hydrogen explosions when the engine is off; however, it poses a problem in that it cannot prevent vehicle freezing due to external temperature drops during long-term parking in winter. Therefore, revisions are being pursued to allow temporary hydrogen fuel supply when the internal and external hydrogen gas concentrations are below a certain standard and there is no risk of explosion.

Furthermore, although a partial reduction in urban railway bond purchase amounts is currently provided when purchasing eco-friendly vehicles, the government will extend the bond purchase reduction period from the end of this year to the end of next year to expand the distribution of eco-friendly vehicles.

The allowable area for temporary structures at courier logistics facilities within development-restricted zones will also be expanded. Currently, courier logistics facilities in development-restricted zones are only permitted to be installed under elevated roads or within urban railway vehicle depots.

Recently, the increase in courier logistics volume and the number of workers at courier logistics facilities have caused difficulties in securing rest areas for courier workers.

Accordingly, for courier logistics facility sites located under elevated roads or within urban railway vehicle depots, the allowable area for management temporary structures for installing rest areas for courier workers will be expanded from 100㎡ to 200㎡.

Additionally, if the courier logistics facility site area exceeds 5000㎡, considering the need to secure rest areas for workers, an additional area for management temporary structures will be allowed within 2% of the excess area.

The regulation that imposes penalty points simultaneously on construction engineers and companies in case of construction site law violations will be revised, and the criteria for measuring penalty points will be specified.

If a company has exercised considerable care and supervision regarding the relevant work to prevent negligence by construction engineers, it may be exempted from penalties. Penalty points will be imposed only on the relevant company in cases such as assigning a construction engineer who has not completed the legally required education and training as a quality management construction engineer.

Heo Kyungmin, the Legal Officer for Regulatory Reform at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Following regulatory improvements in the construction and housing sectors, this month we will focus on improving regulations in the vehicle manufacturing and operation sectors. We will actively listen to issues causing inconvenience to companies and citizens and work with private committee members to develop improvement measures."

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