Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo presided over the first committee meeting on reviewing regulatory exemptions for new business models in Seoul on February 11.

The meeting was held based on the newly-launched “regulatory sandbox” bill with a goal of bolstering innovation-driven new industries beyond the current regulatory challenges.

After deliberations, the committee decided to approve regulatory exemption requests for three demonstration projects that are prohibited under the current law. These projects are the installation and operation of hydrogen stations in downtown Seoul where different sets of regulations have deterred new business creation, the provision of personalized healthcare services through direct-to-consumer genome analysis, and digital bus advertising.

It also agreed to grant temporary permission for the market launch of app-based electric car charging outlets, which is not prohibited but subject to ambiguous laws.

The review was attended by vice ministerial-level officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other government agencies, as well as various industry experts, including Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) President Lee Hee-sook and Yujin Robot CTO Park Seong-ju.