Is It Necessary to Ease Requirements for Over-the-Counter Drug Sales?... Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 'Breaking Down Alley Market Regulations'

On the 23rd, the 4th session of 'Breaking Small Business Alley Regulations' held
Tasks easily accessible to the public selected

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 23rd that it held the fourth session of ‘Breaking Down Small Business Alley Regulations’ at the Conference Hall of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is taking a commemorative photo with attendees after the "Breaking Down Alleyway Regulations in Daily Life" event held on July 20 at Tipstown S1 in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The theme of the event was ‘Unreasonable regulations related to alleyway commercial districts.’ Issues were selected that the public can easily encounter in daily life, such as lodging businesses, butcher shops, and convenience stores.

First, opinions were raised on the need to rationalize the criteria for television receiver fees to alleviate the management burden on small lodging businesses. While household TV receiver fees are charged per household, lodging businesses are charged monthly for each TV installed in every room.

The necessity to abolish the floor area requirement for meat instant sales and processing business facilities was also discussed. Butcher shops must register as ‘Meat Instant Sales and Processing Business’ to sell processed meat products such as beef soup and sausages, and the business area must be at least 26.4㎡. However, even within the same industry, there is no floor area restriction when selling only seasoned meat or ground processed meat (such as pork cutlets), raising issues of fairness.

Opinions were also exchanged on relaxing the registration requirements for sellers of over-the-counter safety medicines. According to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, selling over-the-counter safety medicines like cold medicine outside of pharmacies is only allowed in stores that operate 24 hours a day, year-round. The problem is that in neighborhoods with few pharmacies, such as local supermarkets, sales are not permitted, which has been criticized as unreasonable.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to continuously consult with related ministries to improve the issues that received approval for regulatory improvement through voting by the public judgment panel at the event.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, “We will resolve every unreasonable alley regulation that burdens small business operators, and through this, we will do our best to make small business owners the strong backbone of our society and economy.”

The event was attended by Kim Han-gil, Chairman of the National Integration Committee. Chairman Kim said, “We will work together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to reform ‘regulations for the sake of regulations’ that block small business innovation and threaten their survival, aligning reforms with the public’s perspective.”

The regulatory breakdown initiative, which started in May, has so far covered bio in the first session, everyday regulations in the second, and the mobility sector in the third.

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