Ombudsman Choi Seung-jae for small and medium-sized enterprises said on the 5th that he held the "S.O.S. Talk" at the Ulsan regional headquarters of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), with small and medium-sized venture businesspeople from Ulsan participating.
S.O.S. Talk is a joint roundtable that the SME ombudsman and KOSME have co-hosted since 2015 to resolve regulations on small and medium-sized ventures.
At the roundtable, the main agenda item was "systematizing administrative processing for temporary operation permits for automobiles," raised by a small and medium-sized auto parts manufacturer.
Company A said, "To operate a vehicle temporarily for purposes such as performance testing without registering the vehicle, you must visit and file in person with the local government to obtain a permit," and noted, "For small and medium-sized enterprises, which have frequent test runs and limited personnel, the administrative burden is heavy."
Company A raised the need to establish a non-face-to-face application system for temporary operation permit applications and to simplify application documents through electronic documents and the joint use system for administrative information.
The ombudsman, citing consultations with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, responded that the temporary operation permit work falls under the jurisdiction of local governments and that there are difficulties, such as the need to standardize different work methods across local governments.
To improve temporary operation permits, building a new system or upgrading the existing one involves many technical and institutional considerations, such as revising related laws and regulations. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's position is that technical feasibility and ways to secure the required budget need to be reviewed over the mid to long term for improvement.
Company B proposed easing the qualification standards for integrated environmental managers at business sites to which the Environmental Pollution Facilities Act applies, such as air and water pollution emission facilities.
Company B said, "From Jan. 2024, business sites of a certain size or larger that have environmental pollution emission facilities must appoint an integrated environmental manager who oversees environmental media such as air and water," and noted, "However, small and medium-sized enterprises have difficulty securing personnel who have obtained an air or water environmental engineer license and have more than four years of experience in environmental work."
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the ministry in charge, conveyed the view that it had already eased appointment requirements for small and medium-sized enterprises by deferring implementation of the system by one year and allowing a general manager to concurrently handle overall management.
In addition, considering the difficulty of hiring new personnel who meet the qualifications when existing staff resign, it said it is pushing to amend related regulations to allow environmental specialists from outsourced agents to be appointed as integrated environmental managers.
In addition, participants proposed on-site regulations such as: ▲ rationalizing industrial safety management standards through the use of fire safety-certified products ▲ diversifying units for managing extended work hours ▲ reducing administrative expense through integrated management of hazardous chemicals.
Ombudsman Choi Seung-jae said, "As improving unreasonable regulations directly leads to strengthening the competitiveness of regional industries, we will continue to expand region-by-region, field-centered communication channels," adding, "I hope this discussion will spur innovation activities by small and medium-sized enterprises in Ulsan and serve as an opportunity to reinforce the foundation for the continued growth of Ulsan's key industries, such as automobiles and chemicals."