Open Decision Ledger · Constitutional, administrative & state liability
Legal effect of accepting a business transfer report and the change-report duty
Supreme Court, Mar. 26, 2020, 2019Du38830 (judgment)
Case name: 시정명령취소청구
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
What legal effect does an administrative agency's acceptance of a report of succession to a business on its transfer under Article 39(1) and (3) of the Food Sanitation Act have, what must the transferee substantiate with that report, and may a transferee that continues operating without filing the change report required by Article 37(4) be subject to a correction order or suspension?
Holding
Accepting the report does not merely record a private-law transfer. It cancels the transferor's business permit and sets up the transferee's position to operate lawfully, so the transferee must attach material showing that it holds a lawful right to use a building of the kind permitted for that business and meets the facility standards in Article 36 of the Food Sanitation Act. A transferee that takes over a business whose floor area had been changed without report and continues to operate without reporting may be the subject of a correction order or suspension, and a general restaurant may be run only in a building whose use is a Type 2 Neighbourhood Living Facility, so a detached house may not be used without first obtaining permission to change its use.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
양도자에 대한 영업허가 등을 취소함과 아울러 양수자에게 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 지위를 설정하여 주는 행위로서 영업허가자 등의 변경이라는 법률효과를 발생시키는 행위이다.
Unofficial English translation
An act that, along with revoking the business permit, etc. of the transferor, confers upon the transferee a status whereby the transferee may lawfully conduct business, and that produces the legal effect of a change of the business permit holder, etc.
Disposition
Reversed and remanded Stated in the decision
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
그 요건에는 신고 당시를 기준으로 해당 영업의 종류에 사용할 수 있는 적법한 건축물(점포)의 사용권원을 확보하고 식품위생법 제36조에서 정한 시설기준을 갖추어야 한다는 점도 포함된다.
Unofficial English translation
Those requirements also include the fact that, as of the time of the report, the transferee must secure a right to use a lawful building (store) that may be used for the type of the relevant business and must satisfy the facility standards prescribed in Article 36 of the Food Sanitation Act.
Factors
- 양도자에 대한 영업허가 등을 취소함과 아울러 양수자에게 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 지위를 설정하여 주는 행위로서 영업허가자 등의 변경이라는 법률효과를 발생시키는 행위이다
- 양수인은 영업자 지위승계 신고서에 해당 영업장에서 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 요건을 모두 갖추었다는 점을 확인할 수 있는 소명자료를 첨부하여 제출하여야 하며
- 영업장 면적이 변경되었음에도 그에 관한 신고의무가 이행되지 않은 영업을 양수한 자 역시 그와 같은 신고의무를 이행하지 않은 채 영업을 계속한다면 시정명령 또는 영업정지 등 제재처분의 대상이 될 수 있다.
- 일반음식점은 건축물의 용도가 제2종 근린생활시설이어야 하고, 단독주택(주거업무시설군)에 속하는 건축물의 용도를 제2종 근린생활시설(근린생활시설군)로 변경하려면 시장 등의 허가를 받아야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
• An act that, along with revoking the business permit, etc. of the transferor, confers upon the transferee a status whereby the transferee may lawfully conduct business, and that produces the legal effect of a change of the business permit holder, etc.
• The transferee must submit the report on succession to the status of a business operator with attached explanatory materials by which it can be confirmed that all the requirements to lawfully conduct business at the relevant business place have been met, and
• A person who has acquired a business for which, notwithstanding that the area of the business establishment has been changed, the reporting obligation thereon has not been fulfilled is likewise subject to a sanction such as an order to take corrective measures or suspension of business if the person continues to conduct business without fulfilling such reporting obligation.
• A general restaurant must be in a building whose use is a Class 2 Neighborhood Living Facility, and in order to change the use of a building falling under a single-family house (Residential/Business Facility Group) to a Class 2 Neighborhood Living Facility (Neighborhood Living Facility Group), permission from the mayor, etc. must be obtained.
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2012. 1. 12. 선고 2011도6561 판결(공2012상, 293)
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2011Do6561 decided January 12, 2012 (Gong 2012 Sang, 293)
Decisions referred to
[1] 대법원 2012. 1. 12. 선고 2011도6561 판결(공2012상, 293), 대법원 2014. 3. 13. 선고 2012두18882 판결
Burden of proof
The party asserting Stated in the decision
양수인은 영업자 지위승계 신고서에 해당 영업장에서 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 요건을 모두 갖추었다는 점을 확인할 수 있는 소명자료를 첨부하여 제출하여야 하며
Unofficial English translation
The transferee must submit the report on succession to the status of a business operator with attached explanatory materials by which it can be confirmed that all the requirements to lawfully conduct business at the relevant business place have been met, and
Open question and revisit condition
If an operator reports only part of a building of more than 100 square metres, so that the area to be used as a general restaurant falls within the limit, must the agency accept the change report?
The remand judgment of the Seoul High Court will show how the change-report duty is applied where a succession report misdescribes the premises. Any amendment to Article 37(4) or Article 39 of the Food Sanitation Act, to the Building Act's provisions on changing a building's use, or to the 100 square metre limit in Article 15(ii) of the Rules on the Management of Water Source Protection Zones would require this entry to be read again.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
7 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-25
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 7 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “If an operator reports only part of a building of more than 100 square metres, so that the area to be used as a general restaurant falls within the limit, must the agency accept the change report?” vs Independent “How should the appropriate sanction be selected when a transferee continues operating without reporting a change in business area?”
The primary asks whether the agency must accept a change report covering only part of a large building. The independent asks which sanction to choose. These are different points.
양도자에 대한 영업허가 등을 취소함과 아울러 양수자에게 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 지위를 설정하여 주는 행위로서 영업허가자 등의 변경이라는 법률효과를 발생시키는 행위이다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 5 April 2019 (2018Nu68089), held that although the plaintiff had changed the floor area of the premises of the business in question, she had no duty to file the report of that change. The decision's summary of the reasons below sets out only that conclusion, and does not spell out which circumstances the court below relied on for it.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that the city's acceptance on 10 December 2015 gave the plaintiff status only to continue the business in Building 1, which the city did not know had already been demolished, and so created no status to operate lawfully in Building 2 or Building 3. Starting the business in Building 3 in May 2016 changed the location and floor area without report, contrary to Article 37(4), so the business could be the subject of a correction order under Article 71(1); and since Building 3 was a detached house of 140.75 square metres in a water source protection zone designated also as an environmental management zone, its use could not be changed to a general restaurant. The court below had misapprehended the law on the succession report and the change reports, so its judgment was reversed and remanded.
Distinguishing conditions
- A transferee that reports the actual business it takes over and attaches material showing that it may lawfully operate at that site, so that the acceptance sets up its status there.
- A business whose premises location and floor area were never changed, so that no duty to file a change report arises under Article 37(4) of the Food Sanitation Act.
- A building of 100 square metres or less in an environmental management zone within a water source protection zone, where a change of use to a general restaurant may be permitted.
Record verification notes
Set the file against four points before relying on this decision. Check which building the report described and whether that building still existed when it was filed, since the acceptance confers status only for the business reported. Also check the building's registered use and whether permission to change it is obtainable at the site, including the 100 square metre limit for an environmental management zone, and the version of the Food Sanitation Act in force when the report was due, since the regime for general restaurants changed more than once.
From the official text
Points at issue
[1] 식품위생법 제39조 제1항, 제3항에 의한 영업양도에 따른 지위승계 신고를 행정청이 수리하는 행위의 법률효과 및 양수인이 영업자 지위승계 신고서를 제출할 때 해당 영업장에서 적법하게 영업할 수 있는 요건을 갖추었다는 점에 관한 소명자료를 첨부해야 하는지 여부(적극) / 식품위생법 제37조 제4항, 식품위생법 시행령 제26조 제4호에 따른 영업장 면적 변경에 관한 신고의무가 이행되지 않은 영업을 양수한 자가 그 신고의무를 이행하지 않은 채 영업을 계속하는 경우, 시정명령 또는 영업정지 등 제재처분의 대상이 되는지 여부(적극) [2] 식품위생법상 일반음식점영업을 하려는 자가 건축법상 건축물의 용도를 제2종 근린생활시설로 변경하는 절차를 거치지 않은 채 단독주택에서 일반음식점영업을 할 수 있는지 여부(소극)
Unofficial English translation
[1] Whether the act of an administrative agency receiving a report on succession to the status pursuant to a transfer of business under Article 39, paragraphs (1) and (3) of the Food Sanitation Act has legal effect, and whether the transferee must attach explanatory materials concerning the fact that the requirements to lawfully conduct business at the relevant business place have been met when submitting a report on succession to the status of a business operator (affirmative) / Whether a person who has acquired a business for which the reporting obligation concerning a change in the area of a business establishment under Article 37, paragraph (4) of the Food Sanitation Act and Article 26, subparagraph 4 of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act has not been fulfilled is subject to a sanction such as an order to take corrective measures or suspension of business where the person continues to conduct business without fulfilling that reporting obligation (affirmative) [2] Whether a person who intends to conduct a general restaurant business under the Food Sanitation Act may conduct a general restaurant business in a single-family house without undergoing the procedure to change the use of a building under the Building Act to a Class 2 Neighborhood Living Facility (negative)
Summary of the holding
[1] 식품위생법 제39조 제1항, 제3항에 의한 영업양도에 따른 지위승계 신고를 행정청이 수리하는 행위는 단순히 양도·양수인 사이에 이미 발생한 사법상의 영업양도의 법률효과에 의하여 양수인이 그 영업을 승계하였다는 사실의 신고를 접수하는 행위에 그치는 것이 아니라, 양도자에 대한 영업허가 등을 취소함과 아울러 양수자에게 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 지위를 설정하여 주는 행위로서 영업허가자 등의 변경이라는 법률효과를 발생시키는 행위이다. 따라서 양수인은 영업자 지위승계 신고서에 해당 영업장에서 적법하게 영업을 할 수 있는 요건을 모두 갖추었다는 점을 확인할 수 있는 소명자료를 첨부하여 제출하여야 하며(식품위생법 시행규칙 제48조 참조), 그 요건에는 신고 당시를 기준으로 해당 영업의 종류에 사용할 수 있는 적법한 건축물(점포)의 사용권원을 확보하고 식품위생법 제36조에서 정한 시설기준을 갖추어야 한다는 점도 포함된다. 영업장 면적이 변경되었음에도 그에 관한 신고의무가 이행되지 않은 영업을 양수한 자 역시 그와 같은 신고의무를 이행하지 않은 채 영업을 계속한다면 시정명령 또는 영업정지 등 제재처분의 대상이 될 수 있다. [2] 건축법 제2조 제2항, 제19조 제2항 제1호, 건축법 시행령 제3조의5 및 [별표 1] 제4호 (자)목, 제14조 제5항에 따르면, 일반음식점은 건축물의 용도가 제2종 근린생활시설이어야 하고, 단독주택(주거업무시설군)에 속하는 건축물의 용도를 제2종 근린생활시설(근린생활시설군)로 변경하려면 시장 등의 허가를 받아야 한다. 따라서 일반음식점영업을 하려는 자는 용도가 제2종 근린생활시설인 건축물에 영업장을 마련하거나, 제2종 근린생활시설이 아닌 건축물의 경우 그 건축물의 용도를 제2종 근린생활시설로 변경하는 절차를 거쳐야 한다. 미리 이러한 건축물 용도변경절차를 거치지 않은 채 단독주택에서 일반음식점영업을 하는 것은 현행 식품위생법과 건축법하에서는 허용될 수 없다.
Order
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.
Provisions referred to
[1] 식품위생법 제37조 제4항, 제39조 제1항, 제3항, 제71조 제1항, 제75조 제1항 제7호, 제79조 제1항, 식품위생법 시행령 제25조 제1항 제8호, 제26조 제4호, 식품위생법 시행규칙 제48조 [2] 건축법 제2조 제2항, 제19조 제2항 제1호, 건축법 시행령 제3조의5 [별표 1] 제4호 (자)목, 제14조 제5항, 식품위생법 제36조 제2항, 식품위생법 시행령 제21조 제8호 (나)목
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