Private Sewage Treatment Facility Design and Construction Business Registration Standards — 4 Technical Staff, Laboratory Equipment, 10-Day Processing

Procedure

1. 1. Check whether registration is required

   Anyone installing or modifying a private sewage treatment facility must entrust the work only to a registered design and construction business operator or other qualified operator. Construction businesses registered for industrial and environmental facility work, operators registered in the water quality field of specialized environmental construction, and operators registered for livestock manure treatment facility design and construction under the Livestock Manure Act may design and construct private sewage treatment facilities without this registration. Any other business that wants to do septic tank or sewage treatment facility work as a business must register.

2. 2. Secure 4 technical staff

   You need 1 person qualified as Industrial Engineer Civil Engineering or Industrial Engineer Architecture or higher; 1 person qualified as Engineer General Machinery, Industrial Engineer Lubrication Management, Industrial Engineer Computer Aided Manufacturing, Industrial Engineer Construction Equipment, Industrial Engineer Precision Measurement, Industrial Engineer Machine Assembly, Industrial Engineer Electricity or Industrial Engineer Electrical Construction or higher; and 2 persons qualified as Industrial Engineer Water Pollution Environmental or Industrial Engineer Chemical Engineering or higher. Construction technicians of entry level or higher in the same field are also accepted, but for water quality staff only those whose specialty is water quality management are accepted. If the representative holds a relevant qualification, the representative counts toward the total, and one person with several qualifications counts as only 1.

3. 3. Prepare an office, laboratory and equipment

   You must have an office and a laboratory, along with equipment to measure biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, total nitrogen and total phosphorus, coliform count, and chloride ion concentration. You also need at least 1 set of drafting equipment or at least 1 computer capable of CAD. If you sign an agency contract with a measurement agency, you do not need the equipment for the contracted items during the contract period, and if you contract all items you do not need the laboratory either; laboratory equipment and drafting equipment may also be leased.

4. 4. Apply to the city, county or district

   Attach a statement of facilities and equipment (with a copy of the measurement agency contract, if any) and the technical staff list and qualification documents to the private sewage treatment facility design and construction business registration application, and submit it to the city, county or district office where your office is located. The corporate register and national technical qualification records are checked by the official in charge through shared administrative information. The processing period is 10 days, the fee is 23,000 won, and a registration certificate is issued once the requirements are met.

5. 5. Change reports and compliance

   If the trade name, technical staff, representative, office location or laboratory location (including changes to the measurement agency contract) changes, file a change report with supporting documents and the registration certificate within 30 days of the change. Display the registration certificate in your office, design contracted work yourself, and do not subcontract the design or subcontract the entire construction. After finishing design and construction, conduct trial operation for at least 3 months with training on operating procedures, and keep related drawings and documents for 3 years.

Required documents

• Private sewage treatment facility design and construction business registration application (Enforcement Rule of the Sewerage Act, Form No. 29)
• Statement of facilities and equipment
• Copy of the measurement agency contract (if contracted with a measurement agency)
• Lease agreement for laboratory equipment and drafting equipment (if leased)
• List of technical staff
• Documents proving the qualifications of technical staff (national technical qualification records are checked by the official in charge)
• Letter of authorization (when filed by an agent)

Fees

Typically from several hundred thousand won to several million won in the industry · We give a quote after consultation depending on the status of your technical staff, whether you equip your own laboratory or use a measurement agency contract, whether you hold other private sewage treatment facility business registrations, and whether it is a new registration or a change report. Government fees are separate.

See fees and official charges for this service →

Legal basis and review date

• Sewerage Act, Article 38
• Sewerage Act, Article 48
• Sewerage Act, Article 51
• Sewerage Act, Article 54
• Sewerage Act, Article 76
• Sewerage Act, Article 80
• Enforcement Decree of the Sewerage Act, Article 25-2
• Enforcement Decree of the Sewerage Act, Article 31
• Enforcement Decree of the Sewerage Act, Annex 4
• Enforcement Rule of the Sewerage Act, Article 50
• Enforcement Rule of the Sewerage Act, Article 51
• Enforcement Rule of the Sewerage Act, Annex 11
• Enforcement Rule of the Sewerage Act, Annex 15
• Enforcement Rule of the Sewerage Act, Annex 17

Checked against the statutes on 2026-10-07

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

• If you do not start business within 1 year of registration, the 1st violation brings a warning and a repeat violation leads to cancellation of registration, so time your registration to your order schedule.
• If technical staff leave or change, you must file a change report within 30 days of the change; otherwise you face an administrative fine of up to 1,000,000 won and administrative sanctions.

Frequently asked questions