South Korea plans to enforce a new law requiring local companies and research institutes to receive government permission before selling core technologies to foreign buyers, government officials said Friday.
The so-called industry technology protection law, which passed the National Assembly the same day and will come into force in March, makes it a criminal offence to sell or transfer technologies that could have an adverse effect on the country's national security or economy.
"Depending on the technology, the firm or institute must either get prior permission for, or report any such prospective sale to, the authorities," an official at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said. He said local companies will be given details later this year on what kind of technologies and corporate secrets are to be subject to the restrictions.
Violators could face a prison term of less than seven years and fines not exceeding 700 million won (US$739,800). The law also states that all gains from the transfer of sensitive technology can be confiscated. The new move comes as concerns have been voiced about the lack of laws to penalize people and companies that sell core technologies for profit.
South Korea is a world leader in such areas a mobile phones, semiconductors and various panels. If such technologies are sold to rival countries, it could seriously hurt the competitiveness of local manufacturers. Most of these technologies can moreover be diverted for military purposes that can cause security problems.
The commerce ministry said that from 2000 to June this year, there were 72 separate cases of core technology sales that resulted in losses of around 90 trillion won.
With the exception of large conglomerates, important technologies have not been strictly controlled in the past.
Seoul, Sept. 29 (Yonhap News)
Firms required to obtain gov't permission to sell core technologies abroad |
