The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of South Korea announced that the Special Act on Petrochemical Industry, a special bill aimed at enhancing and supporting the competitiveness of the petrochemical industry, has been adopted at the plenary session of the National Assembly. Following approval by the Cabinet, the Act will be promulgated and enforced as early as the first quarter (January–March) of 2026, after the formulation of relevant supporting laws and regulations.

MOTIE stated that the passage of this Act has laid a systematic foundation for driving the high-value-added and green transformation of the petrochemical industry, enabling it to address the current global overcapacity in the petrochemical sector and secure its competitiveness in the future.

It is reported that the Special Act on Petrochemical Industry will support enterprise restructuring and value-added enhancement (covering taxation, finance, research and development, employment stability, human resource development, etc.); introduce special regulatory measures, including simplifying various licensing procedures, implementing targeted provisions for unavoidable violations of environmental standards, and streamlining the verification processes for new technologies and new production processes; adopt special measures in accordance with the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (permitting the minimum necessary information exchange based on enterprise restructuring plans, and shortening the review period for enterprise monopoly alliances and mergers upon the fulfillment of specific conditions); and reduce costs through special district heating measures (allowing enterprises to freely select heating suppliers during the restructuring period).