Space used by companies in the Magok Industrial Complex to build prototypes or run technology demonstrations will now count as research facilities. The change updates a rule that had recognized only laboratories as research space, limiting how tenant companies could use their buildings even as research and development methods shifted rapidly.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on the 1st that it is easing three sets of rules, including allowing postal submission for seven types of civil filings that previously required an in-person visit and expanding the range of guardians eligible for the "Ttareungyi Family Pass" to grandparents and legal guardians of minors.
The Magok changes focus on bringing space-use standards for tenant companies in line with how research and development is now conducted. Tenant companies must currently set aside at least 50% of total floor area as research facilities, with the threshold at 40% for small and medium-sized enterprises. But because research facilities were recognized mainly as laboratories used directly by research staff, space for prototype production and technology verification or demonstration did not qualify.
Advanced industries such as artificial intelligence and big data have relatively little need for large physical research space, and in some cases the areas set aside to meet the mandatory ratio went underused or sat empty.
The city revised its Magok General Industrial Complex management plan on July 30 to recognize space used to commercialize research and development results, including prototype production and technology demonstration, as research or ancillary facilities within 20% of total floor area. The measure now applies to all tenant companies, not just small and medium-sized enterprises.
Some administrative procedures that required residents to visit government offices in person will also be simplified. Seven types of city filings that had allowed only in-person applications, including reissuance of certificates and reports of business suspension or closure, will accept postal submissions starting in the second half of the year. They cover reissuance of registration certificates for mechanical equipment performance inspection businesses and related suspension or closure reports, suspension or closure reports by wholesale market corporations, succession reports by soil-related specialized institutions, reissuance of inspection and test certificates, and permits for the suspension or discontinuation of passenger bus terminal operations. Applicants will be able to send forms and required documents by registered mail.
The range of guardians recognized under the Ttareungyi Family Pass will also widen. Under current rules, a child under 13 can use the family pass only if a parent is the head of household and lives in the same registered household as the child, leaving out households headed by grandparents, families in which parents and children have different registered addresses, and children under the care of legal guardians of minors. Starting in the second half of the year, a family pass can be registered once the guardianship relationship is confirmed through documents such as a family relation certificate or basic certificate.
Seoul has made regulatory reform a core administrative priority since last year to reduce burdens on residents and businesses, revising 199 rules in total including these latest changes.
"We have been able to improve convenience by correcting areas where rules out of step with reality placed more of a burden than necessary on residents and businesses," said Cho Wan-seok, the city's director general for regulatory innovation. "We will continue to listen to voices on the ground and pursue regulatory reform that residents and businesses can feel."
