Factory Registration Procedure and Required Documents — 5 Checks Before Leasing and Preparing for the On-Site Check

Procedure

1. 1. Check 5 items before leasing or purchasing

   Check the main use on the building register, the use zone in the land use plan, whether the business falls under a manufacturing industry in the Korean Standard Industrial Classification, the production process, and the machinery and equipment that match the process. In exclusive residential areas, distribution commercial areas, conservation green areas, agricultural and forest areas, and natural environment conservation areas, factory registration is difficult in principle.

2. 2. Finalize the industry and the process

   Finalize the industry classification code to be registered and the manufacturing process chart. To list several industries, the requirements must be checked separately for each industry, and if the wrong industry is chosen here, it also causes problems later in the confirmation of direct production.

3. 3. Prepare and file the documents

   Prepare the business plan, the factory layout plan and the list of production facilities, and file them with the competent city, county or district (si/gun/gu) office or the industrial complex management agency. If the layout plan or the facility list is not written in the proper way, you will receive repeated requests for supplementation.

4. 4. Prepare for the on-site check

   The official in charge checks the building register against the actual location, the area in use and whether the machinery is installed. The key point is whether the application, the business plan, the manufacturing process chart, the equipment and the actual site match one another, so compare the production line with the process chart before filing and prepare photographs of the site.

5. 5. Manage changes after registration

   If registered factory matters such as the company name, the area of ancillary facilities or the industry change, an application for registration of change of the factory registration must be filed within 2 months (a change of the representative's name is covered only where the corporation requests it). If incorporation, a change of representative and relocation of the head office overlap, decide the order and proceed.

Required documents

• Factory registration application, business plan
• Factory layout plan, list of production facilities (machinery and equipment)
• Manufacturing process chart
• Business registration certificate, certificate of all registered matters of the corporation (for corporations)
• Building register, land use plan confirmation certificate
• Lease agreement and the building owner's written consent to use (leased factory)
• Site photographs (exterior view, manufacturing facilities, production line, storage areas for raw materials and finished products)

Fees

Government fees follow the standards of the competent agency. Service fees in the industry generally range from several hundred thousand won up to the 1,000,000 won range and vary with whether approval for factory establishment must come first, the number of industries, and the scope of sorting out the past records of a leased factory. We will advise you after a consultation based on the building documents and the process.

See fees and official charges for this service →

Legal basis and review date

• Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act, Article 13
• Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act, Article 15
• Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act, Article 16
• Enforcement Rule of the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act, Article 11
• Enforcement Rule of the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act, Article 12
• Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning and Utilization Act, Article 71

Checked against the statutes on 2026-10-05

Statutes and public notices change, so each case needs to be checked individually. Statute titles are given in English for reference. The Korean statutes are the authoritative text.

Check these first

• Check the building use and the use zone before signing a lease or purchase contract for the building.
• Where an existing factory has been taken over or leased, the past registration records and the current state often do not match, so they must be compared before filing.

Frequently asked questions