Reasons for Proposal
Amid rising concerns that regions’ major industries will be in crisis due to the COVID-19 crisis and the US-China trade conflict, since regional industries are highly depending on the major industries of regions, if one of the major industries suffers a crisis, it is much more likely to turn into a regional economic crisis, such as large-scale unemployment.
The Special Act on Balanced National Development accordingly provides grounds for designating a special area for responding to industrial crises to provide the necessary support, etc., which is however difficult to provide systematic support because there are no specific support measures for the special area for responding to industrial crises and provisions such as a preemptive response scheme and in which there are different aspects from the law's purpose of solving the imbalance between regions and promoting self-reliant development that fits the characteristics of specific regions; thus, it is pointed out that support measures should be devised through a separate statute.
Therefore, this Act aims to provide systematic support to regional industries by preparing a special Act containing matters such as the establishment of basic guidelines, the establishment of the Regional Industry Vitality Enhancement Council, the establishment of regional plans for special areas for responding to industrial crises, the specifications of application and designation procedures for industrial crisis areas.
Details
A. The term "special area for responding to industrial crises" means an area where local economic conditions are significantly deteriorated or may be deteriorated due to the rapid stagnation of the region's major industries (Article 2).
B. The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy shall establish basic guidelines for strengthening regional industrial competitiveness and revitalizing the regional economy every three years after consultation with the relevant central administrative agencies and the deliberation of the Regional Industry Vitality Enhancement Council (Article 5)
C. To deliberate on strengthening the competitiveness of local industries and revitalizing local economies, the Regional Industry Vitality Enhancement Council shall be established under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Article 7).
D. The Mayor/Do Governor shall establish a plan for the special area for responding to industrial crises and submit it to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy if he/she intends to apply for the designation of a special area for responding to industrial crises to all or part of the jurisdiction (Article 8).
E. The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy may approve a regional plan and designate a special area for responding to industrial crises after consultation with the relevant central administrative agencies and the deliberation of the Regional Industry Vitality Enhancement Council (Article 9).
F. The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy may support a region even before it is designated as a special area for responding to industrial crises if the local economic situation is deteriorated rapidly or may be deteriorated, and if regional economic conditions are expected to be deteriorated due to the stagnation of regional industries even before an application for a special area for responding to industrial crises, he/she may recommend to the heads of the local governments to establish and implement a prevention plan for each local government to prevent this (Article 13).
G. The State and local governments may provide tax relief, investment funding, infrastructure support, personnel training support, research and development activity support, and consulting support for enterprises in a crisis area (Articles 14 through 19).
H. The State and local governments shall establish provisions on the reduction of rent, deductions of allotments, differential support for subsidy rates, etc., in a special area for responding to industrial crises (Articles 21 through 24).
Note
This Amendment rests on the premise that the “Partial Amendment to the Special Act on Balanced National Development” (Bill no. 114) and “Partial Amendment to the Act on Regulation of Special Cases of State Property” (Bill no. 119), represented and proposed by National Assembly member Choi Inho, are passed. If the bills are not passed or are passed with modification, this Amendment must be adjusted accordingly.
