Ministry of SMEs and Startups Launches 'Breaking Alley Regulations' Initiative... Establishing Growth Foundation for Small Business Owners

On the 20th, 'Breaking Down Alleyway Regulations in Daily Life' Held
Discussion on Barrier-Free Kiosks, Traditional Liquor, and More

The government has taken steps to eliminate everyday alleyway regulations to establish a growth foundation for small business owners.

On the 20th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it held the event "Breaking Down Everyday Alleyway Regulations" at Tipstown S1 in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups

The theme of this meeting was unreasonable regulations related to small business owners and self-employed individuals. Specifically, discussions were held on six areas including barrier-free kiosks, pet-friendly cafes, and traditional liquor. In the case of barrier-free kiosks, the installation obligation has become a burden for small business owners because the costs increase by 3 to 10 times. Therefore, small business owners argue that instead of focusing on the devices themselves, it is necessary to provide face-to-face ordering and payment counters for people with disabilities.

Regarding traditional liquor, small business owners strongly demand an expansion of the recognized range of main ingredients. Due to raw material production area regulations, if raw materials produced outside adjacent areas are used, the product is not recognized as traditional liquor. Small business owners claim that such regulations hinder competitiveness by obstructing the development of diverse products. A representative case is a traditional liquor company using rice from Ganghwa-do that gave up developing Makgeolli with Jeju-grown tangerine peel added.

General citizens also participated in this event. Considering that the discussion topics were regulations closely related to daily life, a citizen jury of about 50 people was formed. Additionally, an OX quiz was conducted to help the general public approach the regulations more easily.

The event was held publicly, allowing not only the citizen jury but also ordinary citizens to freely express their opinions. The contents discussed that day will be reviewed in practice and directly delivered to the relevant ministries.

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, explained, “There is no time to unravel regulations thread by thread. It is time for bold decisions to cut them out decisively,” adding, “With the aspirations of small business owners and the participation and support of the public, we will break down all regulations blocking our way.”

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