Mid-sized Enterprises Sector "Total Emission Allowance Trading Between Regions Should Be Permitted"

Junggyeonryeon Hosts On-site Meeting on Advanced Industrial Environmental Regulation Innovation with Minister of Environment on the 16th

To alleviate the regional investment burden on mid-sized enterprises, there was an opinion that the transfer and trading of total allowable air pollutant emissions allocated by region should be permitted between regions. The Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises stated this on the 16th at the 'Advanced Industry Environmental Regulation Innovation On-site Meeting' hosted by Environment Minister Han Hwa-jin at the Kolmar Comprehensive Technology Institute. They explained, "Even companies that have significantly contributed to achieving air quality improvement goals through large-scale facility investments cannot transfer their surplus emission allowances to other regions and must pay excess emission penalties in adjacent regions."

The mid-sized enterprise sector said that since inter-regional trading is prohibited and the additional allocation of air pollutant emissions for new or expanded facilities is also limited, investment incentives are inevitably dampened. Choi Jin-sik, chairman of the Federation, said, "As the government is accelerating the resolution of 'killer regulations,' we hope for a progressive improvement measure that eliminates the irrationality of the total air pollutant emissions system, which hinders regional economic development by imposing unnecessary cost burdens on companies through the prohibition of inter-regional trading."

Choi Jin-sik, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises (right), is delivering the 'Environmental Policy Killer Regulation Improvement Tasks?' to Han Hwa-jin, Minister of Environment.

The 'Environmental Policy Killer Regulation Improvement Tasks' delivered by the Federation to Minister Han Hwa-jin this time included 10 new improvement tasks such as 'Relaxation of qualifications and appointment criteria for integrated environmental managers,' in addition to 7 continuously proposed items like 'Improvement of overlapping regulations on air pollutant emission standards.' The Federation stated, "The legislative notice period for the amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Environmental Pollution Facilities Act, which newly establishes qualifications and appointment criteria for integrated environmental managers, is until November 14," adding, "Since the newly established criteria are excessively strict compared to current environmental laws such as the Air Environment Conservation Act and the Water Environment Conservation Act, which could increase the hiring burden on mid-sized enterprises, it is necessary to postpone the enforcement by at least one year and carefully review the situation on the ground to make the qualification requirements more realistic."

The Federation also urged improvements to the hazardous chemical business permit regulation that requires a business operator who has obtained a chemical substance business permit to obtain an additional permit when transferring chemicals to other business sites within the same corporation. The Federation emphasized, "Requiring multiple business permits for the same corporation even when the transaction is not for profit is an unreasonable practice that is difficult to understand beyond unnecessary administrative and cost burdens."

Minister Han said, "I fully empathize with the industry's demands," and added, "We will actively support by preparing groundbreaking improvement measures so that the global competitiveness of our companies is not hindered."

Chairman Choi said, "While the absolute value of the environment as the source and condition of life cannot be denied, we must not neglect the paradox where excessive environmental regulations limit creative activities of companies, darkening the prospects for material growth and development that form the foundation of life," emphasizing, "From a long-term perspective, we must accelerate the paradigm shift in policy aimed at creating a regulatory environment at the level of OECD advanced countries and balancing environmental conservation with improving corporate productivity and strengthening fair competition."

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