Regulatory Sandbox Approvals Surpass 1,000 Cases... Attracting 18 Trillion Won in Investment

Since January 2019 Introduction, Surpassing 1,000 Cases
Special Permission for Online Pharmaceutical Sales and Delivery Robots Granted

Since its introduction in January 2019, the cumulative number of regulatory sandbox approvals has surpassed 1,000 over four and a half years. It has been mainly utilized in areas such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) convergence, industrial convergence, regulatory free zones, innovative finance, smart cities, and research and development zones.

Approved companies have successfully attracted approximately 18 trillion KRW in investments. Sales have increased by about 600 billion KRW. Around 14,000 new jobs have been created.

On the 19th, the Office for Government Policy Coordination announced the results of the regulatory sandbox operations reflecting these details. The regulatory sandbox is a system that temporarily suspends regulations for innovative businesses that are blocked by existing regulations, allowing the validity of the business to be verified in the market during the special exemption period.

The number of regulatory sandbox approvals by year was 195 in 2019, 209 in 2020, 228 in 2021 and 2022, and 150 as of July this year.

As a representative case of regulatory innovation, the government cited the example of the smart video vending machine for over-the-counter drugs. Previously, the sale of pharmaceuticals by pharmacists outside pharmacies was prohibited. However, by granting an exemption to allow the sale of over-the-counter drugs through video vending machines, the machines were permitted to operate during non-business hours of pharmacies such as late nights, holidays, and public holidays. The drugs available for sale were limited to 11 types of therapeutic categories, and medication guidance was provided via video. The Ministry of Health and Welfare granted a two-year exemption to demonstrate the safety and convenience of this service for commercialization.

Allowing autonomous delivery robot services is also a notable example of regulatory innovation. Initially, the movement of autonomous delivery robots on sidewalks and crosswalks was restricted under current laws such as the Road Traffic Act. Additionally, collecting video information without the consent of unspecified pedestrians was prohibited.

However, in August last year, it was decided to allow delivery robots to move on sidewalks and crosswalks within demonstration areas and to permit mobile filming devices during operation, provided that special conditions were met. Conditions included securing standards to ensure pedestrian safety and requiring safety personnel to accompany the robot during demonstration runs. Furthermore, videos recorded by the robots must be anonymized and used only for the purposes of the demonstration project.

Lee Jung-won, Deputy Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, stated, “Surpassing 1,000 cumulative approvals in the regulatory sandbox signifies that this system has been established as a representative regulatory reform measure in new industry sectors,” and added, “Even before the exemption periods expire, we will proactively identify regulatory reform tasks and actively pursue reforms.” The Office for Government Policy Coordination expects the number of projects with expiring four-year exemption periods to continue increasing this year and plans to manage them through the 'Regulatory Sandbox Inter-Ministerial Task Force' to ensure timely regulatory adjustments.

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