Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Wins Excellence Award at the 2025 Local Regulatory Innovation Best Practices Competition

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that the City received the Excellence Award (Minister of the Interior and Safety Award) at the 2025 Local Regulatory Innovation Best Practices Competition held on the afternoon of November 25 at the Government Sejong Convention Center, hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The Local Regulatory Innovation Best Practices Competition is an annual event that selects and shares outstanding cases of regulatory innovation actively promoted by local governments to revitalize regional economies and ease inconveniences for residents.

This year’s competition focused on fostering new industries and easing regulations impacting people’s livelihoods. A total of 17 cases were submitted by 17 metropolitan and provincial governments. After the first and second preliminary rounds, 10 cases that received high evaluations from expert judges advanced to the final competition. Through the event, one Grand Prize, two First Prizes, and seven Excellence Awards were selected.

Busan Metropolitan City was recognized as a representative case in the category of easing regulations affecting people’s livelihoods, achieving meaningful results in supporting businesses through regulatory innovation. The City’s Industrial Site Development Division presented its case, Improvement of Redundant Planning Regulations for Industrial-Use Land within Industrial Complexes, and received high evaluations for both the excellence of the case itself and the completeness of the presentation.

In July 2014, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) revised the Comprehensive Guidelines on Industrial Site Development, making it mandatory to establish a district-unit plan when preparing an implementation plan for industrial complexes. This requirement increased administrative procedures and imposed higher costs on tenant companies.

In response, the City’s Industrial Site Development Division continuously submitted proposals and engaged in consultations with MOLIT for guideline revisions. As a result, MOLIT accepted the City’s recommendations and revised the guidelines in March of this year. Under the revised guidelines, for industrial complexes designated before July 2014 that do not have an established district-unit plan, local governments as the approving authority for implementation plans may determine whether a district-unit plan is necessary, thereby easing the regulation.

With this regulatory improvement, the obligation to establish district-unit plans in existing industrial complexes nationwide—including those in Busan—has been lifted. This change enables faster administrative processing and reduces cost burdens for companies. It also allows for more agile responses to rapidly changing industrial trends, including emerging industries.

Lee Gyeong-deok, Director General of the Planning Bureau, stated, “Bold regulatory innovation across various fields is essential to revive the local economy and strengthen regional vitality. We will continue to listen closely to voices from the field and pursue regulatory reforms that citizens and businesses can truly feel, guided by creative thinking and unwavering determination.”