On October 23, 2026, the Korea Customs Service announced that it is pursuing 6 regulatory innovation tasks to support the 3 mega projects and strengthen the competitiveness of advanced strategic industries, as discussed at the 2nd plenary meeting of the Regulatory Rationalization Committee. They are the top-priority tasks identified at on-site meetings with 130 advanced strategic companies in the 5 regional hubs and 3 special regions.
- Bonded construction work site: Task 1 extends bonded construction work sites, which were allowed only on land, to the sea, so that foreign equipment brought into offshore wind power complexes, such as generators, blades, and hubs, can be installed under duty suspension. Task 2 improves the rules so that foreign construction equipment, such as measuring and analysis equipment, can also be used under duty suspension.
- General bonded area: Task 3 expands the designation of general bonded areas in major advanced strategic industry complexes, such as the Honam region (semiconductors, robots, artificial intelligence), Daegu and Gyeongbuk (robots, materials, parts, and equipment), and Pyeongtaek and Yongin (semiconductors). Once designated, foreign raw materials can be used under duty suspension without an import declaration, the license period renewal and license fee are waived, and foreign goods can be moved between partner companies in the zone without bonded transport procedures.
- Research and development: Task 4 improves the rules so that if outside research and test locations for foreign raw materials for research and development are registered with customs in advance, they can be managed independently without procedures such as off-site work permission and import and export reporting.
- Exports, parts import: Task 5 introduces a "transport first, export declaration afterward" system, so that a regional bonded factory can first transport goods to the loading site before the export declaration and file the export declaration while the goods are moving to the loading port. Task 6 expands the spare and repair parts that can be brought into a bonded factory from the models produced at that factory to parts of models produced at domestic and overseas headquarters and branches.
Source: Korea Customs Service press release (October 23, 2026)