Merck Expands Korean Factory... Government Supports Investment by Easing Safety Standards for Liquefied Hydrogen Carriers and Other Regulations

'4th Economic Regulation Innovation Plan'
Promotion of Rapid Leasing of State-Owned Lands Including Idle Ports
Identification of 55 Regulatory Improvement Tasks
Allowing Leasing of National Forests for Wind Power Generation

The government will present alternative sites suitable for large-scale factory establishment by global pharmaceutical companies to attract new investments. It also plans to establish safety standards for ships using hydrogen, an eco-friendly fuel, to promote investment in this area.

On the 19th, the government jointly announced the "4th Economic Regulatory Innovation Plan" at the "Economic Regulatory Innovation TF Meeting" held at the Seoul Government Complex, containing these measures.

So far, through five Economic Regulatory Innovation TF meetings, the government has announced 119 regulatory improvement tasks and six thematic regulatory innovation plans. In this Economic Regulatory Innovation Plan, a total of 55 improvement tasks were identified to resolve on-site difficulties for companies and to improve regulations for the introduction of new industries and new technologies.

The government decided to identify projects delayed or uncertain due to regulations and administrative procedure delays and to resolve these difficulties.

Currently, the desired sites for global pharmaceutical companies are designated as research sites where only urban-type factories with low emissions can be established, making large-scale factory establishment difficult. Accordingly, the government plans to review corporate investment projects and related regulations, explore alternative sites available for occupancy, and present them by the second quarter of this year to attract new investments. A government official explained, "Specific company names, investment scales, and factory sites will be announced soon." The pharmaceutical company is reported to be the multinational company Merck.

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Rapid leasing of unused national land will also be promoted. In the case of the west side of Daesan Port's storage yard site (national land), despite private demand, no utilization plan has been established, and leasing procedures have not proceeded. The government plans to conduct a leasing public offering for the storage yard by the third quarter to ensure that idle port land can be promptly used for private investment.

Additionally, to install the marine cable car promoted by Yeongdeok-gun, the Central Coastal Management Deliberation Committee will be convened promptly for review, and pre-consultation on cultural heritage impact assessments will be conducted to facilitate smooth progress of large-scale development plans around national heritage sites.

Regulatory Improvements for the Introduction of New Industries and New Technologies

Safety standards for the construction and operation of liquefied hydrogen carriers and propulsion ships will also be established. Although an increase in hydrogen imports from overseas is expected, investment related to liquefied hydrogen carriers has been delayed due to the absence of ship safety standards. Accordingly, by the fourth quarter of this year, considering research and development (R&D), demonstration projects, and discussions at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), safety standards for liquefied hydrogen carriers and propulsion ships will be promptly established. Safety standards will also be created to allow liquefied hydrogen storage tanks installed on liquefied hydrogen carriers to be manufactured using new materials and forms.

The environmental impact assessment threshold for electricity storage systems (ESS) for power generation projects will be relaxed to 100,000 kW, the same level as solar, wind, and fuel cell power plants. Additionally, leasing for wind power generation will be permitted within national forests as long as it does not interfere with forest management and poses no disaster risk.

Reducing Administrative Procedure Burdens

Efforts will be made to ease the administrative procedure burdens related to disaster risk when converting mountain areas. Currently, when converting more than 5,000㎡ of mountain land, similar disaster impact assessments (under the Natural Disaster Countermeasures Act) and disaster risk review opinions (under the Mountain Management Act) act as overlapping regulations. Therefore, if a disaster impact assessment has been conducted for mountain land conversion over 5,000㎡, submission of the disaster risk review opinion will be waived by revising the enforcement rules of the Mountain Management Act by the fourth quarter of this year.

To prevent major industrial accidents, matters related to process data and risk assessments must be recorded and submitted, and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency reviews these in the process safety report. Currently, submission of drawings is mandatory for all facilities, but this scope will be rationalized. If semiconductor sites select representative facilities within the same process in advance and prepare and submit drawings, submission of drawings for additional facilities (approved by the agency as identical or similar facilities) will be exempted during the process safety report review.

Additionally, if private disaster prevention agencies with an annual evaluation cycle receive an excellent performance rating (S grade) for two consecutive years, the evaluation for the following year will be exempted. Criteria will be established for minor changes in marine development plans and zones to allow simplified consultations for minor changes. Furthermore, minor repairs to cultural heritage that do not affect preservation will be clearly stipulated as not requiring design approval, and submission of business registration certificates will be exempted when reporting changes in cultural heritage trading businesses.

A government official stated, "We will hold the Economic Regulatory Innovation TF monthly and continue strong regulatory innovation efforts focusing on tasks related to export and investment activation. We plan to continuously identify tasks, promptly review and improve identified tasks, and after announcement, check whether regulations have been finally improved and whether there are additional difficulties."

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