Factory Registration
Factory registration under the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act runs from establishment approval through completion reporting to entry in the factory register. The 500 square metre threshold, the choice between individual and planned sites, deemed permits, and the two-month completion reporting deadline are all set by statute.
How We Handle It
Site & Sector Review
Confirm the business falls within KSIC manufacturing (C, 10–34) and choose between an individual or planned site; check restricted zones such as overconcentration control regions.
Establishment Approval
Obtain approval from the mayor, county head or district head where the factory building area is 500 square metres or more. Occupancy contracts in industrial complexes are deemed approval.
Building Permit
Apply for establishment approval before the building permit application or notification; 16 permit types are deemed granted through consultation at this stage.
Completion & Installation
Obtain building use approval and finish installing machinery. Registration of the factory building alone may be applied for before machinery installation.
Completion Report
File the completion report within two months of the date the final building use approval is obtained and machinery installation is complete.
Registration
The authority enters the factory in the factory register; 19 further registrations, notifications and permits are deemed granted after consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What counts as a factory?
A. A business site equipped with buildings or structures, manufacturing machinery forming a production process, and ancillary facilities, operated to carry on manufacturing as classified under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification (Division C, 10–34). A non-manufacturing site is not subject to factory registration under this Act.
Q. When is establishment approval required?
A. Anyone newly building, expanding or changing the business type of a factory with a building area of 500 square metres or more must obtain approval from the mayor or county head, and again for any change to the approved particulars. Minor changes may be handled by notification (Act Art. 13(1)).
Q. Can a factory under 500 square metres apply anyway?
A. Yes. Article 13(3) allows a factory below 500 square metres to seek establishment approval where the applicant wants the deemed permits, notifications, licences, approvals, releases or use-abolitions under Article 13-2. In practice smaller factories often apply voluntarily to obtain that bundled effect.
Q. What if the factory is in an industrial complex?
A. No separate establishment approval is needed. Article 13(2) deems approval granted where the applicant has obtained approval under Art. 20(2), concluded an occupancy or amended contract under Art. 38(1)-(2), or obtained a factory establishment permit, authorisation or licence under another statute prescribed by Presidential Decree.
Q. How long does approval take?
A. Where the application is filed through a factory establishment support centre, the mayor or county head must notify approval or the reason for delay within 20 days of receiving the documents. If no notice is given in time, approval is deemed granted on the following day. A delay notice may extend the period by up to 10 days.
Q. Which permits are bundled in?
A. Deemed permits arise at two stages. At building permit stage these include road occupancy, sewerage installation, private waterworks, private electrical facility plans, fire safety consent, hazardous substance facilities, development activity, temporary structures, waste treatment facilities and air, water and noise/vibration emission facilities. At registration stage a further 19 registrations, notifications and permits, including feed manufacturing and food manufacturing, are deemed granted after consultation.