[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Jeong Yoon-young = The duty-free industry, which was in crisis of death as the sky road was blocked, raised their voices of welcome to the government’s support measures.
On the 22nd, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance decided to reduce the patent fee by 50% for the duty-free industry that is suffering from a direct hit by Corona 19.
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| [서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Jeong Yoon-young = 2021.02.05 [email protected] |
The reduction period is two years from 2020 to 2021. Earlier, in December of last year, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Customs Act, which contained the contents of reducing patent fees in case of significant damage to the business of bonded stores due to a disaster under the’Basic Disaster Act’.
Accordingly, the payment amount in 2020, which was expected to reach 70 billion won, is expected to decrease to around 35 billion won.
According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the top five companies in sales, including Lotte, Shilla, Shinsegae, Hyundai Department Store, and HDC Shilla, saw their sales in the first to third quarters of last year, down 44.2% compared to the same period last year. Operating income recorded a loss of 3544 billion won during the same period. The number of employees decreased by 43% from 35,000 in January last year to 20,000 in December.
Currently, the patent fee rate is 0.1~1.0% for large companies and 0.01% for small and medium-sized companies, depending on sales. With the revision of the enforcement rules, the commission rate for sales of last year and this year will be reduced to 0.05% to 0.5% for large companies and 0.005% for small and medium-sized companies.
The duty-free shop industry responded welcoming government support measures.
Lee Gap, president of the Korea Duty Free Shop Association (Lotte Duty Free Shop Representative), said, “Thank you to the National Assembly and the government for supporting the duty free industry, which is experiencing an unprecedented crisis,” and said, “Based on the support for the reduction of patent fees, the association We will play a pivotal role in overcoming the crisis so that it can be quickly normalized.”
An official from the duty-free industry also said, “Thanks to the government support, we are expecting a reduction in fees of about 10 billion won,” and expected that “the industry will be breathless thanks to the support measures while the industry is in crisis with the sky blocked.”
Meanwhile, since last year, the government has implemented various support measures for the duty-free shop industry, which is struggling with Corona 19, ▲reduction of airport rental fees ▲allowing the sale of inventory goods in Korea ▲allowing duty-free shopping for non-landing tourist flights ▲allowing multiple shipments of duty-free goods before departure.
An official from the Ministry of Technology predicted, “If additional patent fees are reduced, it will help ease the crisis in the duty-free industry.”