Under the current law, product sale and distribution are only allowed for the products manufactured from the reported factory within an industrial complex.

The filing company would like to introduce the new product of its parent company and wishes to test the Korean market for the product’s marketability. In order to do so, however, the filing company has to report another place of business to sell and distribute the imported goods.

If the imported products are found marketable, the filing company can then decide additional investment in Korea such as by adding more product lines in the country. So the company asked for support.

- After receiving the grievance, the Office of Foreign Investment Ombudsman (OFIO) has submitted the issue to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) every time the ministry requested the submission of the system improvement task. At the Ministerial Meeting on Regulatory Reform chaired by the President on May 6, 2015, the issue was finally adopted as the agenda item.

- As a result, the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act (amended Dec 30, 2014) and its enforcement decree (enforced July 1, 2015) were amended. The amendment led to the introduction of “multiple zone” in industrial complex which allows multiple move-ins of industrial and other support facilities such as manufacturing facilities (workshop), convenient facilities (sales shop), cultural/leisure spaces, educational/research spaces, welfare facilities and public organizations.

- Following the amendment, the filing company applied for the move-in of storage/sales facility of the imported products for market testing in its factory area under certain conditions. The designation of “multiple zone” and the following conditions will be negotiated with the competent authorities for the concerned industrial complex.

- The filing company’s factory area was designated as the multiple zone and the company was able to sell and distribute the imported products for market testing.