Under the Act on Prevention of Leakage and Protection of Industrial Technology ("ITA"), companies having technology designated as a National Core Technology ("NCT") are required to take appropriate protective measures, including at least the following:
(i) setting up mechanisms for protecting NCTs;
(ii) specifically appointing a person or persons in charge of managing NCTs;
(iii) reporting to the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) when exporting an NCT or when a foreign inventor is acquiring an NCT that was developed using Korean government funding; and
(iv) obtaining approval from MOTIE when exporting an NCT that was developed using Korean government funding.
Notably, on July 8, 2019, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced the addition of seven technologies as NCTs, the revision of descriptions from five technology fields, and the removal of two technologies from the list of NCTs.
The updated NCT list is effective immediately. The specific changes are as follows:
| Field | Newly Designated NCT | |
| Semiconductor | (i) Single crystal growth technology for manufacture of large-diameter (300mm or greater) semiconductor wafers | |
| Electrical & Electronics | (ii) Design, manufacture and process technology for anode materials with more than 80% Ni content for lithium secondary batteries (iii) Design and manufacture technology for power cable systems (including connecting materials) of 500kV or greater |
|
| Automobile | (iv) Design and manufacture technology for LPG Direct Injection (LPDi) fuel injection systems | |
| Steel | (v) Automatic control technology for blast furnace operation based on deep learning artificial intelligence (vi) Smart water cooling technology for manufacture of high strength steel plate with tensile strength of 600MPa or higher (including engineering and control technology) |
|
| Machinery | (vii) Design and operation technology for human-friendly elevator systems (low vibration: not more than 10gal; reduced noise: not more than 70dBA in machine rooms and not more than 45dBA inside a car or in a platform when operating; and movement stability: jerk of 1.2m/s3 and below, etc.) | |
| Field | NCT Before Change | NCT After Change |
| Electrical & Electronics | Design, process, manufacture, and evaluation technology for medium & large-size lithium secondary batteries for electric vehicles, etc. with high energy density (in case of pouch type, 250Wh/kg or more; in case of angular type, 85% of the pouch type) | Design, process, manufacture, and evaluation technology for medium & large-size lithium secondary batteries for electric vehicles, etc. with high energy density (in case of pouch type, 265Wh/kg or more; in case of angular type, 90% of the pouch type) |
| Automobile & Railway | Design and manufacture technology for fuel cell vehicle stack systems, hydrogen storage, and supply systems | Design and manufacture technology for fuel cell system for fuel cell electric vehicles (hydrogen storage, supply, stack, and BOP) * BOP (Balance of Plant): peripheral machinery equipment |
| Design and manufacturing technology for core components and systems for autonomous vehicles (limited to camera systems, radar systems, and lidar systems) | Design and manufacture technology for core components and systems for autonomous vehicles (limited to camera systems, radar systems, lidar systems, and high-precision positioning systems) | |
| Shipbuilding | Manufacture technology for 500 or higher horsepower diesel engines, crankshafts and propellers with diameter of 5 meters or greater | Manufacture technology for 5,000 or higher horsepower diesel engines, crankshafts and propellers with diameter of 5 meters or greater |
| Information & Communication Technology | Design technology for LTE/LTE_adv/WiBro/WiBro_adv measuring devices | Design technology for LTE/LTE_adv/5G measuring devices |
| Field | Removed NCT | |
| Automobile & Railway | (i) Design and manufacturing technology for liquid phase LPG injection (LPLi) systems for LPG vehicles | |
| Information & Communication Technology | (ii) Technology for smart device user interfaces (UI) | |
Earlier this year, MOTIE announced that it will increase its efforts to ensure compliance with the ITA, including stricter sanctions against entities that fail to comply with the requirements. In view of the heightened government interest in protecting NCTs, we believe this is a good time to review your companies' compliance with the updated and revised NCT regulations.
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