Local Governments Join Forces to Eliminate Block Regulations Across Industrial Supply Chains

Call for New Candidate Projects for the "Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zone"

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 5th that it is inviting applications for candidate projects for new designations of the "Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zone," targeting metropolitan local governments outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

First introduced in 2019, the "Regulation-Free Special Zone" is a system designed to foster strategic and innovative industries in non-metropolitan regions by granting special exemptions for a certain period, thereby supporting the demonstration and commercialization of new technologies and services. Up until last year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups had designated 42 Regulation-Free Special Zones over 10 rounds, helping to ease regulations in new technology and new industry sectors and to establish a foundation for innovation-driven growth in non-metropolitan regions.

The industrial sector has continuously raised the need for demonstrations that cover the entire value chain and for rapid regulatory improvements. In response, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has newly introduced the "Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zone" and begun new designations this year, with the aim of resolving block regulations across the entire industrial supply chain. The "Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zone" is a new type of Regulation-Free Special Zone model in which two or more local governments link up and cooperate to jointly plan and operate the zone, and it is intended to demonstrate converged industries that combine various new products and services. Through this, large-scale and complex demonstrations that were difficult to pursue at the level of individual local governments are expected to become possible.

To generate tangible results from the Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zone, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will not only relax regulations but also support demonstration-related research and development (R&D) and infrastructure building, and will simultaneously provide commercialization support to facilitate the market entry of new products and services based on demonstration results.

In this call for candidate projects, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has presented five business models that are suitable for inter-local-government linkages, such as cross-industry convergence and supply chain building: smart agriculture, new distribution and logistics, new marine leisure, medical tourism, and hydrogen. Each local government can refer to these models to design a Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zone that reflects local conditions and the specific characteristics of each industry.

Candidate projects for the special zone must be jointly submitted by two or more metropolitan local governments, and the proposal submission period is from March 9 to March 13. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to select around three candidate projects through document and presentation evaluations, and then flesh out the special zone plans through expert consulting and consultations with relevant ministries.

The newly established Metropolitan Linked Regulation-Free Special Zones will be finally designated by the Minister of SMEs and Startups in the first half of this year, following deliberation and resolution by the Regulation-Free Special Zone Deliberation Committee and the Special Zone Committee.

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