The Small and Medium Enterprises Ombudsman has collectively improved 384 local location regulations that hinder the startup and growth of small and medium enterprises and small business owners.
On the morning of the 15th at 11 a.m., Ombudsman Choi Seung-jae held a briefing at the Seoul Government Complex Annex and noted, "We conducted a comprehensive survey and comparative analysis of the main regulations frequently raised by small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners, as well as the local regulatory status of all 243 local governments, and made collective improvements."
The Small and Medium Enterprises Ombudsman has been addressing the burdensome regulations and challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises since its launch in 2020. Since 2021, it has been pushing for improvements in local regulations that small and medium enterprises and small business owners can actually feel, categorized by subjects. So far, the Ombudsman has improved approximately 2,732 regulatory provisions from 42 local government ordinances.
This time, 21 improvement tasks have been selected in the area of location regulations, including the special provisions for traditional market maintenance areas, automotive sales business registration standards, road connection permits, and parking lots, with plans to improve 384 instances across 142 local governments.
First, regarding the traditional market maintenance project, the Ombudsman suggested that local governments that have not reflected the relaxed criteria for location regulation special provisions be more proactive in implementing them.
In addition, it was suggested to abolish the requirement for applications to designate alley-type commercial districts to obtain the consent of more than half of land and building owners, a proposal accepted by 53 local governments.
The barriers to entry for starting automotive sales businesses have also been lowered. Previously, some local governments required that the office be adjacent to or in the same building as the exhibition facility for registration of automotive sales businesses, but three metropolitan governments have decided to relax this requirement.
Ombudsman Choi Seung-jae stated, "Despite the numerous corporate regulations improved by the Small and Medium Enterprises Ombudsman over the years, there are still many local regulations that require maintenance. We will diligently identify and continuously refine the necessary regulations without missing any."