SME Ombudsman: "Calls to Improve Restrictions on Support Project Participation for Companies with Minor Legal Violations"

On-site Meeting with Soraepo-gu Merchants Association in Incheon and Gyeonggi Regions

The Small and Medium Enterprise Ombudsman announced on November 20 that it held the "2025 Incheon-Gyeonggi Region Small Business On-site Meeting" at the Small Business Coworking Space in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon Metropolitan City, and listened to regulatory and operational difficulties raised by local small business owners. This meeting was attended by Ombudsman Choi Seungjae, Kang Seonghan, Head of the Incheon Regional Headquarters of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, as well as small business owners and traditional market merchants from the Incheon and Gyeonggi regions, who shared a variety of opinions.

First, an issue was raised regarding the system that restricts companies that have violated laws from participating in various support projects in Gyeonggi Province. To foster a sound business ecosystem and promote a culture of legal compliance among companies, Gyeonggi Province restricts participation in various support projects for companies that have violated any of 11 laws across four areas: fair trade, labor, environment, and taxation. Representative A stated, "Uniform regulations and sanctions that do not consider the severity of violations are problematic," and added, "It is excessive and unfair to completely prohibit participation in support projects for minor violations, such as failing to conduct a re-inspection of a factory lift. The system should be improved."

In response, Gyeonggi Province stated, "In order to establish reasonable sanction standards based on the severity of legal violations, we plan to revise the notice and guidelines to ease the sanctions for minor violations and supplement the system starting next year."

In addition, participants proposed: ▲ easing the project expense execution standards for the Neighborhood Commercial District Development Support Project ▲ relaxing regulations on the efficacy and labeling of health functional foods ▲ reducing the burden of duplicate hygiene training when small business owners change their business type ▲ simplifying the licensing procedures for store interior renovations for small business owners ▲ and improving the operation of agricultural and livestock product refund events in traditional markets.

Ombudsman Choi Seungjae said, "We will continue to do our best to create an environment where small business owners can focus solely on running their businesses."

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