Regulatory Sandbox

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President Moon Jae-in has called for active ministry efforts regarding the "regulatory sandbox" project. He said aggressive administration measures related to the sandbox rule will receive exemptions, while passive measures will be reprimanded.

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This is the Apple Watch Series 4, which was released last year. The watch for the first time featured an electrocardiogram (ECG) heart monitor that works with the touch of a finger. A Korean start-up actually developed a product with the ECG feature earlier than Apple but failed to obtain a sales permit because it was blocked by regulations. President Moon cited this particular example and stressed that ministries and agencies must strive to uncover relevant "regulatory sandbox" projects. He said the government shouldn't just wait for companies to file applications but make the first move and encourage the sandbox rule to the private sector in a showcase of "proactive administration."

[Soundbite] Pres. Moon Jae-in: "I want to make it clear that aggressive measures will be encouraged while passivity and nonperformance will be reprimanded."

Moon's remarks are viewed as basically a reprimand. He said that as he was going over the cases approved under the sandbox rule, he was saddened to see the amount of regulations that were in place against new business ideas. A regulatory sandbox is a concept that allows a grace period or waiver of regulations during a certain period of time for innovative products or services introduced by private firms. President Moon said the sandbox was a primary example of regulatory reform. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy earlier announced the first set of four regulatory sandboxes including the installation of hydrogen refueling stations in Seoul. The Ministry of Science and ICT will announce its own projects approved under the sandbox program on February 14th.