Business license
Businesses that require licensing- Any person who intends to engage in any of the following businesses, shall obtain a license from the Minister of Food and Drug Safety, the Mayor of a Special Self-Governing City, the Governor of a Special Self-Governing Province or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu (hereinafter referred to as the “licensing office”), by type of business or each place of business (Former part of Article 37(1) of the Food Sanitation Act and Subparagraph 2 of Article 23 of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act).
· Karaoke bar business
· Entertainment bar business
Conditions and restrictions for obtaining the business license- Where a business belongs to any of the following cases, no business license shall be obtained (Article 38(1) of the Food Sanitation Act).
· Where the relevant business facilities fail to meet the criteria for facilities under Article 36 of the Food Sanitation Act (Subparagraph 1 of Article 38(1) of the Food Sanitation Act)
· Where a business operator intends to engage in the same type of business in the same place before 6 months have elapsed since the business license was canceled due to a violation of the Food Sanitation Act and subordinate regulations (excluding cases where a business license was canceled due to a violation of Article 44(2)-1 of the Food Sanitation Act, and where a business license was canceled in accordance with Article 75(1)-19 of the Food Sanitation Act), or since the business license was canceled in accordance with Articles 16(1) or 16(2) of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods.
√ However, a business license may be issued if the business license was canceled after all of business facilities were removed.
· Where a business operator intends to engage in the foodservice business in the same place before 2 years have elapsed since an order to close down his/her place of business was issued for employing juveniles as entertainment workers and making them provide entertainment services (Subparagraph 1 of Article 44(2) of the Food Sanitation Act) or for committing an offence under Article 4 of the Act on the Punishment of Arrangement of Commercial Sex Acts, etc. (Subparagraph 19 of Article 75(1) of the Food Sanitation Act)
· Where the same person (including the representative of a corporation) intends to engage in the same type of business before 2 years have elapsed since the business license was canceled for violating the Food Sanitation Act (excluding cases where a business license was canceled for violating Articles 4 through 6, 8, or 44(2)-1 of the Food Sanitation Act and where a business license was canceled in accordance with Article 75(1)-19 of the Food Sanitation Act), or since the business license was canceled in accordance with Article 16(1) and (2) of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods) [However, this condition is not applicable when the business license becomes canceled due to complete demolition of the place of business (excluding demolishment of the place of business to avoid administrative penalties).
· Where the same person (including its representative for a corporation) intends to engage in food service business before 3 years have elapsed since the business license was canceled for employing a youth to provide entertainment service as entertainment worker (Article 44(2)-1 of the Food Sanitation Act), or since the business license was canceled for engaging in a prohibited act under Article 4 of the Act on the Punishment of Arrangement of Commercial Sex Acts, Etc. (Article 75(1)-19 of the Food Sanitation Act) Articles 16(1) or 16(2) of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods).
· Where a person (including its representative for a corporation) who had been issued with an order to close down his/her business for selling harmful foods, etc. (Article 4 of the Food Sanitation Act), meat affected by disease, etc. (Article 5 of the Food Sanitation Act), chemical synthetics, etc. with no prescribed standards and specifications (Article 6 of the Food Sanitation Act), and poisonous equipment, etc. (Article 8 of the Food Sanitation Act) intends to engage in the same type of business before 5 years have elapsed since such order was issued
· Where it is deemed clearly necessary to restrict a license of food service business that the Special City Mayor, the Metropolitan City Mayor, the Special Self-Governing City Mayor, the Province Governor, or the Special Self-Governing Province Governor designates and publicly announces for the purpose of public health
· Where any person who intends to obtain a business license is an adult placed under the protection of a legal guardian or was declared bankrupt and has not yet been reinstated