This is Hwang Yunsang Administrative Agent Office, your administrative agent in Incheon and Songdo. On October 2, amendments from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the Financial Services Commission were posted on the National Participatory Legislation Center, and the Rural Development Administration announced that it has reduced the documents required for certification applications. We have selected four items businesses should note.
Today’s 3 Key Points
- An amendment to the Enforcement Rule of the Marine Traffic Safety Act has been pre-announced, requiring ships and workplaces where a serious disaster occurred due to a marine accident to undergo ad hoc certification audits. Comments are due by November 13.
- An amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Public Finance Recovery Act has been released, changing the interest added when recovering fraudulently received subsidies from a monthly to a daily basis. Comments are due by November 11.
- For Excellent Agro-Healing Facility certification, applicants no longer need to submit 6 documents, including the business registration certificate and the agricultural business entity certificate. A draft Enforcement Decree on the registration requirements for issuer account management institutions for security tokens (capital of at least 4 billion won) was also pre-announced.
1. Marine Traffic Safety Act Enforcement Rule Amendment: Mandatory Ad Hoc Certification Audits for Ships and Workplaces with Serious Disasters
- What changes: Ships or workplaces where a serious disaster, such as loss of life, occurred due to a marine accident will become subject to ad hoc certification audits to verify and improve their safety management (draft Article 43). The designation criteria and grounds for disqualification for excellent maritime safety operators will also be revised.
- Other changes: Marine traffic density is added to the items in the marine traffic safety assessment report (draft Appendix 7), and in the Yeosu special marine traffic area, the width of the deep-water route and the no-navigation zone will be adjusted now that dredging near Samyeo Reef is complete (draft Appendix 2).
- Who is affected: Shipowners and shipping operators certified under the safety management system, operators designated or preparing to be designated as excellent maritime safety operators, and developers commissioning marine traffic safety assessments
- When: Comments are due by November 13 (Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries). The effective date is ⚠️ to be confirmed in the original notice.
- Administrative agent’s note: An ad hoc certification audit examines whether safety management improvements were actually made after an accident. If your shipping company has had an accident, organize records of the cause analysis, recurrence-prevention training and procedure manual revisions by date. Operators who wish to keep their excellent operator designation should check in advance whether they have any history that falls under the revised grounds for disqualification.
- Source: National Participatory Legislation Center · Pre-announcement of the partial amendment to the Enforcement Rule of the Marine Traffic Safety Act (Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries)
2. Interest on Recovered Fraudulent Subsidies: From Monthly to Daily Calculation
- What changes: When recovering money received through fraudulent claims for public funds such as subsidies and grants, the interest included in the recovery amount will be calculated daily instead of monthly (draft Article 3, Paragraph 3). This also aligns it with how interest on additional charges is calculated under current law.
- Who is affected: Businesses, organizations and individuals receiving subsidies, grants or contributions, and the local governments and public institutions that issue recovery orders
- When: Comments are due by November 11 (Public Finance Recovery Management Division, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission). The effective date is ⚠️ to be confirmed in the original notice.
- Administrative agent’s note: Under daily calculation, the later you pay the recovery amount, the more interest accrues for each day. If you receive an advance notice of recovery, submit in writing, within the comment deadline, the circumstances showing the claim was not fraudulent or any grounds for reduction; if there is nothing to dispute, paying earlier is the way to reduce the burden.
- Source: National Participatory Legislation Center · Pre-announcement of the partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Public Finance Recovery Act (Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission)
3. Excellent Agro-Healing Facility Certification: 6 Supporting Documents No Longer Required
- What changes: When applying for Excellent Agro-Healing Facility certification, applicants no longer need to obtain and attach 6 supporting documents themselves. With the applicant’s consent, the official in charge will verify them.
- Verified through administrative information sharing: business registration certificate, agricultural business entity certificate, land (forest land) register
- Verified through the Rural Development Administration’s own system: agro-healing specialist certificate, training course completion certificate, operator training completion certificate
- Who is affected: Farmers and corporations operating healing farms or agro-healing facilities who wish to obtain excellent facility certification
- When: The certification system link-up has been completed as of July 30 (announced by the Rural Development Administration on October 2).
- Administrative agent’s note: Fewer documents does not mean the certification review standards have changed. Before applying, check that your agricultural business entity registration and the land category and area in the land register match your actual operations, and that the agro-healing specialist qualification and operator training records are in the applicant’s name.
- Source: Rural Development Administration · Reducing the document burden for Excellent Agro-Healing Facility certification (Policy Briefing)
4. Registration Requirements for Security Token Issuer Account Management Institutions: 4 Billion Won Capital and Professional Staff Standards
- What changes: In line with the amendment to the Electronic Securities Act introducing security tokens, which record and manage securities information using distributed ledger technology, detailed standards will be added to the Enforcement Decree.
- Distributed ledger requirements: joint recording by multiple participants, recording in chronological order of creation, etc. (draft Article 2)
- Registration requirements for issuer account management institutions: capital of at least 4 billion won, at least 1 account management specialist, at least 1 internal control specialist, at least 2 IT specialists, etc. (draft Article 11-2)
- Items to be stated in the registration application (name, head office and branch locations, executives, etc.) and attachment of the articles of incorporation (draft Article 11-3), and requirements for maintaining registration (draft Article 11-5)
- Who is affected: Companies that wish to issue and manage security tokens directly, and financial and fintech businesses preparing to register as issuer account management institutions
- When: The Act takes effect on February 4, 2027; comments on the draft Enforcement Decree amendment are due by November 11 (Financial Services Commission)
- Administrative agent’s note: Staffing requirements often come with experience criteria in addition to headcount, so the final version needs to be reviewed. If your company is preparing to register, start by organizing the business purposes in your articles of incorporation, checking whether any executives are disqualified, and planning the hiring of professional staff before the Act takes effect.
- Source: National Participatory Legislation Center · Pre-announcement of the partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Electronic Registration of Stocks, Bonds, etc. (Financial Services Commission)
Deadlines to Watch This Week
- October 12–30: Hygiene inspections by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and local governments of about 4,300 daycare center group meal facilities (products past their expiration date, storage of preserved food samples, kitchen hygiene)
- October 13: Deadline for the administrative pre-announcement of the Fair Trade Commission’s amended notice on leniency for voluntary reporting of collusion
- October 19: Comment deadline for the amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act and the Enforcement Decree of the Mental Health Welfare Act
- October 26: Comment deadline for the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Aviation Safety Act (expanding small drones subject to reporting)
- November 11: Comment deadline for the amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Public Finance Recovery Act and the Enforcement Decree of the Electronic Securities Act
- November 13: Comment deadline for the amendment to the Enforcement Rule of the Marine Traffic Safety Act
This briefing was compiled by Hwang Yunsang Administrative Agent Office based on publicly available information. Whether it applies to an individual case must be confirmed with the competent authority.