Regulatory & Certification Consulting for Korea, Handled by a Licensed Administrative Agent.

A 번역확인증명서 (translation certificate) is issued directly by a licensed 외국어번역행정사 under Administrative Agent Act Article 20 and is accepted at Korean public institutions without a notary. A 번역공증 (translation notarization) additionally involves a notary witnessing the translator's sworn accuracy statement, and is what foreign institutions, embassies, and apostille applications require.

Class 1 devices go through notification (신고) with NIDS and are GMP-exempt, though the company still needs internal QMS documentation. Class 2 goes through certification (or full review, depending on how novel the product is) with NIDS; Class 3 and 4 go through approval (허가) reviewed directly by MFDS headquarters, always requiring full technical document review.

It depends on your business model. A company that manufactures and directly sells its own product needs both. A brand that commissions OEM/ODM manufacturing and sells under its own label only needs responsible-seller registration (the contract manufacturer holds the manufacturing registration). An importer distributing foreign-made cosmetics also only needs responsible-seller registration.

가목 covers fiber/rubber products used for disease treatment/prevention (like masks); 나목 covers products with weak/no direct bodily action (like hand sanitizer). It matters because facility standards and manufacturing-manager qualifications differ sharply between the two — 나목 always requires a licensed pharmacist as manager, while 가목 allows a tiered, non-pharmacist alternative.

SME confirmation (중소기업확인서) establishes baseline small/medium enterprise status based on employee count, revenue, and ownership structure — a prerequisite many other certifications require. Startup confirmation (창업기업확인서) additionally requires the company be within 7 years of founding and not in an excluded industry — it's specifically for public-procurement startup set-asides, startup R&D funding, and startup tax credits.

No, registration isn't mandatory below 500㎡. If the building registry already lists the space as factory/manufacturing use and your business registration address matches, that combination substitutes for a factory registration certificate anywhere one would normally be required — including for a direct-production certificate application.

Only if it's a chemical substance or mixture meeting the hazard classification in the Occupational Safety and Health Act's Enforcement Rule Schedule 18. Products already regulated under other laws (health functional foods, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, cosmetics, food additives) are excluded, and general consumer household products are excluded when workers don't handle them on-site. Research/development chemicals still need an MSDS prepared, but submission itself is waived.

Products across 8 categories and 17 items used in disaster prediction/diagnosis, detection, preparedness, response, evacuation, rescue, and recovery — fire detectors, rescue equipment, and evacuation guidance systems are representative examples. Applications open twice a year, in a spring window and a fall window, through the Disaster Safety Industry Comprehensive Information System.

A 방문요양센터 (home-visit care center). It only needs 16.5㎡ of dedicated space, and the center head qualification can be obtained relatively quickly through a Level 2 사회복지사 license — the fastest route for someone starting from scratch. Compare that to a 노인요양시설 (10+ resident nursing home), which needs at least 23.6㎡ per resident, or a 요양병원, which requires establishing a medical corporation first.

It's a spectrum of legal formality. A 사단법인 or 재단법인 is a full legal person that needs a 주무관청's permission to exist, can own property and sign contracts in its own name, and is the only tier eligible for later 공익법인 tax-deductible-donation status. A 비영리민간단체 only needs to notify (not get permission from) a central ministry or provincial government, but has no separate legal personhood — contracts stay in the representative's name — and must have 100+ voting members and a year of documented public-benefit activity. An 임의단체 needs neither permission nor registration; the only practical step is a 고유번호증 tax ID so the group can open a bank account in its own name.

E-8 is a single-season visa specifically for agriculture and fishing, tied to an MOU between a Korean and foreign local government (or a relative recommended by an F-6 marriage-immigrant), while E-9 is the broader, sponsor-tied Employment Permit System visa covering manufacturing, construction, agriculture, fishing, and select services, running up to four years and ten months rather than a single season.

You must file within 90 days of learning of the disposition, and no later than 180 days after the disposition itself — whichever deadline comes first. Missing both cuts off the appeal route entirely, so it's worth starting the review as soon as a suspension notice, refusal letter, or sanction notice arrives.

The registration application, a copy of the technician's qualification certificate, proof the technician is enrolled in Korea's four mandatory insurances, a copy of the lease agreement, a corporate registry extract for corporations, a seal certificate, a copy of the business registration certificate, and an education completion certificate for the representative — available through the Seoul Outdoor Advertising Association offline or the Korea Local Finance Public Corporation online (edu.ooh.or.kr). A power of attorney is added if an agent files on your behalf.

It depends on the sector and the problem you're funding. The agri-food loan is limited to agricultural corporations and SMEs commercializing agri-food technology (fisheries excluded). The general SME policy fund covers nearly any SME by growth stage — startup, growth, relaunch, or emergency liquidity. The eco-factory subsidy is narrower still: it's only for SMEs or mid-size companies that already own a domestic manufacturing factory and want to fund an environmental conversion. Several clients qualify for more than one and need help sequencing which to file first.

The six grades were consolidated into two bands: "severe" disability (roughly the old Grades 1–3) and "not severe" disability (roughly the old Grades 4–6). Every disability type's classification table is now written in terms of these two bands rather than a specific number. Benefit eligibility — including the disability pension amount — is generally tied to which band you fall into, so the underlying medical severity still matters as much as it did before 2019, just expressed differently.