Small Business Owners Deceived by Youth into Selling Alcohol and Tobacco to Be Protected by Law Starting Late March

Amendment of Related Laws in the Shortest Time Through Inter-Ministerial Cooperation

The regulations requiring youth identity verification, which had been a burden on small business owners and self-employed individuals, will be comprehensively improved through intergovernmental collaboration.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and related ministries announced on the 26th that two laws related to youth identity verification were approved at the Cabinet meeting. The laws approved at the Cabinet meeting are the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act and the Enforcement Decree of the Youth Protection Act, which will take effect on the 29th of this month. The Enforcement Rules of the Game Industry Act took effect on the 22nd, and the Enforcement Rules of the Tobacco Business Act and the Enforcement Rules of the Music Industry Act will also take effect on the 29th. In total, five laws will be amended and implemented by the 29th of this month.

A case where a small business owner received a business suspension due to a youth who lied about their age was raised at a public discussion on livelihood issues on February 8. In response, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups took charge of coordinating consultations among related agencies to discuss legal amendments and active administrative cooperation measures. The lead ministries, including the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, took steps to ensure that improvement measures could be applied in the field even before the legal amendments through active administration and official notices.

The Ministry of Government Legislation held multiple working-level consultations with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to prepare the amendment bill and proceeded with the legislative process promptly. Additionally, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism independently identified amendments to the Enforcement Rules of the Game Industry Act and the Enforcement Rules of the Music Industry Act and participated in the legislative process. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups explained that by gathering opinions at the inter-agency council and having the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Ministry of Government Legislation proceed with the legislative process, they were able to achieve the shortest possible legal amendment and early implementation.

Furthermore, to prevent unjust victims before the legal amendments, 17 metropolitan local governments disseminated various measures from central ministries to basic local governments and made efforts such as relaxing administrative appeal standards and holding active administration committees on their own. The National Police Agency also distributed guidelines to each provincial police agency and, to prevent small business owners who were reported from being unfairly punished, conducted investigations promptly and allowed small business owners to view and copy investigation records and evidence according to investigation guidelines when requesting materials such as CCTV to exempt administrative sanctions.

The related agencies plan to prepare and distribute a "Good Faith Small Business Owner Protection Administrative Measures Guideline" by industry to ensure the amended laws are firmly established in the field. They also agreed to actively collaborate on regulatory improvements needed to protect small business owners, including amendments to youth identity verification laws pending in the National Assembly.

Minister Oh Young-joo said, "Through the public discussions on livelihood issues held since the beginning of the year, regulatory reform tasks that practically help small business owners were derived," and “As public consensus grows that the irrationalities that have persisted for decades must be corrected, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s immediate administrative measures and the full efforts of related agencies have resulted in the achievement of legal amendments in the shortest period.”

Minister Oh added, “Going forward, related agencies will continue to collaborate swiftly to devise and resolve measures to improve everyday regulations that burden small business owners, as in this case.”

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