Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Announces Partial Amendment to the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Building Act’

To ensure the efficiency of building administration, administrative authority that has been partially delegated to heads of eup, myeon, and dong offices will now be delegated collectively to cover the building notification, major renovation notification, and construction notification for temporary buildings and structures, as well as the subsequent administrative procedures.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that a partial amendment to the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Building Act’ containing such provisions passed the Cabinet meeting on August 28, 2018. The main contents of this amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Building Act are as follows.

◇ Specifying the permit procedures for major renovation of buildings (Enforcement Decree Article 9, Paragraphs 1 and 2) — Because the permit application and the procedures for processing major renovations that repair or alter the structure or form of a building were unclear (currently, the Building Act specifies the permit, but detailed procedural provisions are insufficient), the procedures regarding the permit application and the issuance of the permit certificate have been specifically prescribed, distinguishing them from building permits.

◇ Specifying the procedures for permitting temporary buildings and extending their retention period (Enforcement Decree Article 15, Paragraphs 8 and 9, and Article 15-2, Paragraph 3) — The procedures for applying for a building permit for a temporary building and for issuing the permit certificate have been clearly prescribed, and the procedures for the annual permit or notification for extending the retention period have been made to follow the initial permit or notification procedures. Among the contents of Enforcement Decree Article 15, Paragraph 9, the term ‘construction notification certificate’ for temporary buildings has been unified to the ‘construction notification receipt’ in the attached form (No. 9) of the Enforcement Rules.

◇ Improving the installation standards for building stairs and corridors (Enforcement Decree Article 44) — Where the building space is partitioned and the evacuation routes are separated, the scale of the stairs and corridors is to be calculated based on the floor area of each evacuation route section, in the same manner as the method for calculating the scale of evacuation passages and rooftop plazas.

◇ Improving the height restriction for securing daylight in multi-family housing (Enforcement Decree Article 86, Paragraph 7) — Even when there is a park or similar area where construction is prohibited within a single lot, the height restriction for multi-family housing (up to twice the horizontal distance from the center line of the park) may now be eased through deliberation by the Building Committee, in the same way as when a park or similar area lies between different lots.

◇ Unifying delegated administrative authority by type of building act (Enforcement Decree Article 117, Paragraph 4) — To ensure administrative efficiency, administrative authority that has been partially delegated to heads of eup, myeon, and dong offices may now be delegated collectively to cover the building notification, major renovation notification, and construction notification for temporary buildings and structures, as well as the subsequent administrative procedures.

◇ Other amended contents (Enforcement Decree Article 2, Article 5-5 and 5-7, Article 12 Paragraphs 1 and 4, Article 46 Paragraphs 3 and 5, etc.) — By additionally specifying ‘matters concerning the structural safety of multi-use and special-structure buildings’ as subjects of deliberation by the local Building Committee with respect to building construction, the scope of the local Building Committee’s duties, which had been prescribed inconsistently, and the subjects of deliberation related to building construction have been aligned. It has been clearly prescribed that, when a change is made during construction after a building permit or notification, the issuance of the modified permit certificate or notification receipt shall follow the procedures for the initial issuance of the permit certificate, etc. It has been specified that, where the main structural parts of a portion of a building are of fireproof construction or where the fire compartment has been eased, that portion shall be fire-separated from the remaining portions. A legal basis has been established to allow the standards regarding the procedures and management for recognizing structures and facility standards that substitute for evacuation spaces within apartments to be publicly notified. Among the definitions of the term ‘multi-use building,’ the phrase ‘a building used by an unspecified number of people’ has been deleted.