3-Line Summary
- Relocating a factory is not simply a procedure to change the address on the Factory Registration Certificate. The new location is treated as if you are establishing a new factory; if the factory building area is 500㎡ or more, you must first obtain approval for factory establishment (Article 13 of the Industrial Cluster Act). For metropolitan areas like Incheon, you must first check whether the relocation is permitted under Article 20.
- Emission facilities, such as spray booths and drying ovens, do not automatically transfer from the old factory. You must re-register these before installation at the new location, and you must also settle the registrations at the old factory.
- The sequence is Approval Application → Notification of Installation of Emission Facilities → Importation and Installation of Machinery → Completion Notification → Factory Registration. To minimize production downtime, you must create a schedule working backward from the lease expiration date and the submission deadlines of your clients.
Table of Contents
- The single line for the location in the Factory Registration Certificate
- Why factory relocation does not end with a change of address
- Comparing the new factory’s building ledger with the actual area
- Powder coating booths must be re-registered at the new location
- The sequence of moving machinery in two stages
- The day the Factory Registration Certificate was issued
- Checklist before relocating a factory
- Scope of work for the administrative agent office
1. The single line for the location in the Factory Registration Certificate
I am an administrative agent (administrative scrivener) working in Songdo, Incheon. I would like to introduce a case where I worked with a company preparing to relocate its factory.
The location field on the Factory Registration Certificate listed the address of a rented factory in Seo-gu, Incheon. The question sent by the CEO via email was brief: “We are moving the factory; we just need to change this address to the new one, right?”
I could not immediately answer “Yes” to that question. The attached sales contract for the new factory listed a building area of 780㎡, while the factory registration for the old factory was 420㎡. Just looking at those two numbers, it was clear that the procedures would differ.
The company manufactured filter housings for HVAC systems and sheet metal parts. They had laser cutters, three bending machines, welding worktables, a powder coating booth, and a drying oven, with 18 employees. Among them, four were foreign workers staying under the Non-professional Employment (E-9) visa status.
The CEO is in his early 30s and has used the same rented factory since starting the business seven years ago. As the volume of orders increased, the factory became too small, so he took out a facility loan and purchased an owned factory within the same Seo-gu area. The lease agreement was set to expire on November 30, and the periodic evaluation documents for his main client (the prime contractor) had to be submitted by the second week of December. The Factory Registration Certificate is included in these evaluation documents. If they fail the evaluation, it becomes difficult to receive order allocations for the following year.
2. Why factory relocation does not end with a change of address
The procedure the CEO had in mind was an application for the change of factory registration. This was because he had experience applying for a change at the district office when he expanded his machinery last year. If the area or machinery changes within the same factory, a change registration is correct.
Relocating a factory to a different location is different. In practice, it is viewed as settling the factory at the old location and establishing a new factory at the new location. You must re-verify whether approval is required based on the factory building area of the new location.
Article 13 of the 「Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act」 (Industrial Cluster Act) stipulates that for the new establishment, expansion, or change of business type of a factory with a building area of 500㎡ or more, approval must be obtained from the Mayor, County Governor, or Head of the District. Factories with an area of less than 500㎡ may apply for registration if they wish, pursuant to Article 16.
For factories located in Overcrowding Control Zones or Growth Management Zones under the 「Seoul Metropolitan Area Readjustment Planning Act」, such as in Incheon, Article 20 of the same Act applies first. In these zones, the new establishment, expansion, or relocation of factories with a building area of 500㎡ or more is, in principle, restricted, and can only proceed with approval under Article 20, Paragraph 2, in cases falling under Attachment 1-2 (Overcrowding Control Zones) or Attachment 2 (Growth Management Zones) of the Enforcement Decree. Whether relocation is permitted depends on whether the new site is an industrial complex, an industrial area, or another type of area, whether the company is a small or medium-sized enterprise, and whether it qualifies as an urban-type factory.
Since the old factory was 420㎡, it was in a state where it was only registered without needing approval. The registration had been obtained to meet the delivery conditions of their clients. The new factory was 780㎡. This time, they had to obtain approval first. I also checked whether the relocation was permitted according to the land use zone and business type of the new site.
The CEO’s biggest concern was the timeframe. It takes time from submitting the approval application until the results are released, and if machinery is brought in and the factory starts operating before approval, it is considered an establishment of a factory without approval. There were 8 weeks remaining until the lease expiration date.
Even if administrative procedures have similar names, if their starting points are different, the documents are completely different.
3. Comparison of the New Factory Building Ledger and Actual Area
The first consultation took place on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 6th. The CEO arrived on time for the appointment, bringing the building ledger for the new factory, the sales contract, and a list of machinery. I immediately began by verifying the area to be used for the approval application. This is because if the factory construction area in the application does not match the building ledger, a request for supplementation will be issued, causing delays in the schedule.
The building ledger listed the factory at 720㎡ and an attached office building. However, the 780㎡ stated in the sales contract was a figure that included a 60㎡ steel-frame warehouse built by the seller at the rear. That warehouse was not listed in the ledger.
If there is a building not listed in the ledger, the approval application drawings and the actual status will not match. If confirmed as an illegal building, the buyer could inherit the responsibility for corrective measures. I explained two options to the CEO.
- Method of officially reflecting the warehouse: This would require going through the construction procedures again, making it difficult to finish within the previous schedule.
- Method of clearing the warehouse before the final payment: It was possible to submit the approval application using only the 720㎡ listed in the ledger.
The CEO needed the material warehouse, but the previous schedule was more urgent. We negotiated with the seller to have the warehouse demolished at the seller’s expense before the final payment, and we included this content as a special provision in the contract. The specific wording of the special provision was decided by the CEO and the seller. I informed them that I would re-verify whether the site photos after demolition matched the building ledger.
The fact that 720㎡ is still over 500㎡, making it subject to approval, remained unchanged. However, we were able to align the numbers in the application, the drawings, and the building ledger.
4. Re-registering the Powder Coating Booth at the New Location
The second complication involved the coating line. Since the powder coating booth and the drying oven are air pollutant emission facilities, they had already been registered for installation at the old factory. The CEO thought that the existing registration certificate could be used as is at the new factory.
Article 23 of the Clean Air Conservation Act stipulates that anyone intending to install emission facilities must obtain a permit or file a report prior to installation. Registration is based on the workplace where the facilities are located. If the location changes, a new installation report must be filed at the new location. The registration certificate from the old factory does not hold validity at the new factory’s address.
The order of operations was crucial here. If the coating booth is moved and installed first and reported later, it would be considered installing emission facilities without a report. I suggested postponing the relocation of the coating line until last.
The following documents were attached to the installation report:
- Specification of emission facilities and prevention facilities (booth dimensions, drying oven capacity, dust collection filter specifications)
- A layout of the new factory indicating the locations of the booth, drying oven, and exhaust vents
- Raw material (powder coating) usage and the process flow chart
- Design data from the prevention facility company
The registration matters for the old factory also had to be settled. We set a date for the demolition of the emission facilities at the old factory, inquired with the environmental department of the competent district office regarding the proper procedure, and submitted the documents as instructed. This is because if the registration for the old factory remains active, it could cause problems when the next tenant tries to register at the same location.
5. The sequence of moving the machinery in two stages
To complete all procedures within eight weeks, we had to restructure the sequence. I created a timeline by working backward from the lease expiration date (November 30) and the deadline for submission to the prime contractor (the second week of December).
- October 14: Agency service for filing the application for approval of factory establishment (Business Plan, Building Ledger, Site Layout, Machinery List, and copy of the Sales Contract).
- Immediately after approval: Filing the report for the installation of emission facilities at the new factory.
- Second week of November: 1st stage relocation of the laser cutting machine, bending machine, and welding workbench (machinery that does not constitute emission facilities).
- After confirmation of the acceptance of the installation report: 2nd stage relocation of the powder coating booth and drying oven.
- After completion of installation: Filing the report of completion of factory establishment and application for factory registration (Article 15 and Article 16 of the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act).
- Last day of operation at the old factory: Application for the termination of factory registration for the old factory.
The reason for splitting the machinery relocation into two stages was to minimize the period during which production would be halted. Cutting and bending operations began first at the new factory, while coating operations continued at the old factory until the end of November. Although it required the extra effort of transporting semi-finished products by truck, we were able to meet the delivery deadline for the prime contractor.
After the approval application was filed, the district office issued one request for supplementation. They noted that the output of the laser cutting machine in the machinery list did not match the power consumption stated in the business plan. I obtained new photos of the machine’s nameplate, corrected the output values, included the contracted power capacity, and replied within three days.
We also had to move the housing for four foreign workers. The schedule involved moving them from the second-floor dormitory at the old factory to a villa near the new factory. Article 36 of the Immigration Act stipulates that a person who has registered their alien registration must report a change of residence within 15 days from the date of moving in. Once the moving date was confirmed, I prepared the documents for the change of residence report for the four workers and handled the reporting on their behalf. The CEO personally applied for the correction of the business location at the tax office via HomeTax.
6. The day the Factory Registration Certificate was issued
The approval for factory establishment came out about three weeks after the application was filed. The acceptance of the report for the installation of emission facilities followed the next week, and the coating line was moved in the last week of November.
There was one small commotion on moving day. The employees called the oldest bending machine brought in when the company was founded “the Big Brother.” Someone had tied a red ribbon to the handle of “Big Brother” as it was being loaded onto the forklift. No one untied that ribbon until it was set down at the new factory. Even when we retook the photos for the machinery list, the ribbon remained, and it was captured on one side of the nameplate photo submitted to the district office.
After completing the installation of the coating line, we filed the report of completion of factory establishment and the application for factory registration together. The Factory Registration Certificate with the new address was issued in the first week of December. The evaluation documents for the prime contractor’s partner assessment were submitted three days before the deadline, and the company passed the evaluation with the same grade as previous years. The registration of the old factory was also finalized in the same week.
In this case, we were able to finish within the schedule because the seller’s warehouse demolition was completed before the final payment, and there was only one request for supplementation. The time required varies for each factory depending on the land use zone, business type, and types of emission facilities.
The CEO hung the “Safety First” plaque, which had been taken from the old factory, on the wall of the new factory’s office building. It was a plaque that had been in the same spot for seven years.
7. Checklist before moving a factory
If you are planning a factory relocation, checking the following items from the contracting stage will help prevent delays in your schedule.
- Whether the new factory’s construction area is 500㎡ or more: If it is 500㎡ or more, it is subject to approval for factory establishment. Even if the old factory was only a registered factory, this must be re-verified. In areas such as Incheon and the Seoul Metropolitan Area, you must first check whether relocation to the new site is permitted due to restrictions in Overcrowding Control Zones or Growth Management Zones (Article 20 of the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act).
- Whether the Building Ledger matches the actual building: If there are warehouses or temporary buildings not listed in the ledger, you must decide on a method to resolve this before applying for approval.
- Possession of emission facilities: If you have coating, drying, cleaning, or dust collection equipment for welding, you must obtain a report or permit at the new location before installation.
- Timing of machinery arrival: Machinery should be brought in only after confirming the approval and the acceptance of the installation report.
- Relocation of foreign workers’ housing: If the place of residence changes, it must be reported within 15 days.
- Settling the old factory: The factory registration and emission facility report details must be settled in accordance with the last day of operation.
Accurate legal provisions and interpretations require verification with the competent authorities, and as requirements vary by case, individual verification is necessary.
8. Scope of Services at the Administrative Agent’s Office
Hwang Yunsang Administrative Agent’s Office handles the following tasks related to factory relocation:
- Preparation and agency for filing applications for factory establishment approval and business plans
- Agency for filing notifications of completion of factory establishment, factory registration, and applications for changes to registration
- Preparation and agency for submitting notifications for the installation of air and wastewater discharge facilities
- Comparison of the building ledger, drawings, and machinery lists, and responding to requests for supplementation
- Agency for filing change of residence notifications for foreign workers
Factory relocation is a process where procedures from various departments follow one another simultaneously. By simply following the correct order, you can reduce the period during which production is halted. If you are struggling with factory relocation or factory registration issues in Incheon, I recommend checking with us before your schedule is finalized.
This content has been reconstructed for better understanding and is not related to any specific person or event.
