Open Decision Ledger · Criminal law
Making food at a separate site for one's own restaurants as unregistered food manufacturing
Supreme Court, July 15, 2021, 2020Do13815 (judgment)
Case name: 식품위생법위반[별도의 장소에서 음식을 만들어 자신이 운영하는 직영점에 공급한 행위가 무등록 식품?제조가공업에 해당하는지가 문제된 사건]
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where a person has completed the report for a general restaurant business at one site, must food manufacturing at a separate site be registered there, and is supplying one's own restaurants with food made there a transaction between separate business operators passing through a distribution stage?
Holding
Both. Because the Food Sanitation Act requires the report or the registration duty to be performed by business type or by business site, a person who has filed a general restaurant report for one site must register food manufacturing at a separate site used as its place of business. Supplying one's own restaurants with food made at a separate site, using storage and transport facilities, is a transaction between separate business operators that passes through a distribution stage, so making the food there without registration is unregistered food manufacturing.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
식품제조·가공업은 최종 소비자의 개별 주문과 상관없이 소비자에게 식품이 제공되는 장소와 구별되는 장소에서 일정한 시설을 갖추어 식품을 만들고, 만들어진 식품을 주로 유통과정을 거쳐 소비자에게 제공하는 형태의 영업을 가리키고, 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업은 식품을 조리한 그 영업소에서 최종 소비자에게 식품을 직접 제공하여 취식할 수 있게 하는 형태의 영업을 가리킨다.
Unofficial English translation
The food manufacturing and processing business refers to a form of business in which, irrespective of the individual orders of final consumers, food is made at a place distinct from the place where the food is provided to consumers by equipping certain facilities, and the food thus made is provided to consumers mainly through the course of distribution, whereas the general restaurant business among the food service businesses refers to a form of business in which food is provided directly to final consumers at the business place where the food is cooked, enabling them to eat it there.
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
All appeals are dismissed.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
따라서 특정 영업소에 관하여 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업 신고를 마친 사람이 별개의 장소에서 식품제조·가공업을 하려면 해당 장소를 영업소로 하여 식품제조·가공업 등록의무를 이행해야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
Therefore, if a person who has completed a report on the food service business, namely the general restaurant business, with respect to a specific business place intends to engage in the food manufacturing and processing business at a separate place, that person must fulfill the obligation to register the food manufacturing and processing business with that place as the business place.
Factors
- 최종 소비자의 개별 주문과 상관없이
- 식품을 만드는 장소와 식품이 소비자에게 제공되는 장소가 동일한지와
- 식품을 만든 다음 이를 소비자에게 제공하기까지 별도의 유통과정을 거치는지는
- 자신이 제조·가공한 식품을 보관·운반시설을 이용하여 그 음식점에 제공하는 행위는
- 피고인 을이 피고인 갑 회사가 운영하는 식당과 별도의 장소에 일정한 시설을 갖추어 식품을 만든 다음
Unofficial English translation
• irrespective of the individual orders of final consumers
• whether the place where the food is made and the place where the food is provided to consumers are identical, and
• whether the food thus made passes through a separate course of distribution before being provided to consumers
• the act of supplying the food that the person has manufactured and processed to that restaurant by using storage and transportation facilities is
• Defendant B, having equipped certain facilities at a place separate from the restaurant operated by Defendant A Co., Ltd. and made food there,
Relation to precedent
Cannot be determined Not in the decision
Decisions referred to
해당 본문 참조
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
Where the site where the food is made and one of the restaurants served by it stand in the same building, is there still a distribution stage between the two?
An amendment to Article 36(1) or Article 37(4) and (5) of the Food Sanitation Act, or to Article 21(i), Article 21(viii)(b) or Article 26-2(1)(i) of its Enforcement Decree, or to Article 36 and Table 14 of the Enforcement Rule, would require this entry to be read again. So would a later decision changing the meaning of food manufacturing and processing or the elements that separate it from a general restaurant business.
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 “Where the site where the food is made and one of the restaurants served by it stand in the same building, is there still a distribution stage between the two?” vs Independent “How should an off-site kitchen preparing food solely in response to individual consumers' orders be classified?”
The primary asks whether a making site and a restaurant in the same building still have a distribution stage between them, while the independent asks how a kitchen making food only for individual orders should be classified, so the questions differ.
식품제조·가공업은 최종 소비자의 개별 주문과 상관없이 소비자에게 식품이 제공되는 장소와 구별되는 장소에서 일정한 시설을 갖추어 식품을 만들고, 만들어진 식품을 주로 유통과정을 거쳐 소비자에게 제공하는 형태의 영업을 가리키고, 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업은 식품을 조리한 그 영업소에서 최종 소비자에게 식품을 직접 제공하여 취식할 수 있게 하는 형태의 영업을 가리킨다.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 Uijeongbu District Court, in its judgment of 25 September 2020 (2019No1693), convicted Defendant 1 of unregistered food manufacturing. It found that Defendant 1, the representative of Defendant 2 company, leased commercial premises in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul in the company's name, installed a refrigerator, a sink, a rotating cauldron, a gas range and work shelves there, made four kinds of namul, including dried radish greens, bean sprouts, thistle and shredded radish, between around 5 May 2018 and 11 September 2018, and supplied them to five directly-run restaurants as side dishes for ordered meals.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that the judgment below rested on the same legal principle it set out: food made at a site with suitable facilities, separate from the restaurants, and delivered in bulk to directly-run branches so that customers eat it through those branches is unregistered food manufacturing. It found no error of logic or experience, no departure from free evaluation of evidence, and no misreading of Article 21(i) of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act, and dismissed all the defendants' appeals on the unanimous opinion of the Justices.
Distinguishing conditions
- Food prepared and served to the customer at the same site, where the place of manufacture and the place where the food is provided to the consumer are identical.
- Food that reaches the consumer without a separate distribution stage after being made, since that stage is one of the main elements separating the two businesses.
- A business other than food manufacturing and processing or a general restaurant business, as those are defined in Article 21(i) and Article 21(viii)(b) of the Enforcement Decree.
Record verification notes
Set out each site separately: where the food was made, what facilities were installed there, and how it travelled to each restaurant, since the Court relied on the separate site, the facilities and the bulk delivery. Then check whether the report or the registration for each site was performed, as Article 37(4) and (5) of the Food Sanitation Act impose the duty by business type and by business site. The facility standards of Article 36(1) and Table 14 of the Enforcement Rule should also be compared with what was actually installed.
From the official text
Points at issue
[1] 식품위생법상 식품제조·가공업과 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업의 의미 및 위 각 영업을 구별하는 요소 [2] 특정 영업소에 관하여 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업 신고를 마친 사람이 별개의 장소에서 식품제조·가공업을 하려면 해당 장소를 영업소로 하여 식품제조·가공업 등록의무를 이행해야 하는지 여부(적극) / 동일인이 별개의 장소에서 식품제조·가공업과 일반음식점영업을 각각 영위하고 있더라도 자신이 제조·가공한 식품을 보관·운반시설을 이용하여 그 음식점에 제공하는 행위는 별개 사업자 간의 거래로서 유통과정을 거치는 행위인지 여부(적극) [3] 5곳의 음식점을 직영하는 피고인 갑 주식회사의 대표자인 피고인 을이 회사 명의로 상가를 임차하여 그곳에 냉장고 등을 설치하고 나물류 4종을 만든 다음 이를 회사가 각 직영하는 음식점에 공급하여 손님에게 주문한 음식의 반찬으로 제공함으로써 무등록 식품제조·가공업을 하였다는 공소사실로 기소된 사안에서, 피고인 을의 행위는 무등록 식품제조·가공업을 한 것에 해당한다고 한 사례
Unofficial English translation
[1] The meaning of the food manufacturing and processing business and the general restaurant business among the food service businesses under the Food Sanitation Act, and the factors distinguishing each of such businesses [2] Whether a person who has completed a report on the food service business, namely the general restaurant business, with respect to a specific business place must, in order to engage in the food manufacturing and processing business at a separate place, fulfill the obligation to register the food manufacturing and processing business with that place as the business place (affirmative) / Even if the same person separately operates the food manufacturing and processing business and the general restaurant business at separate places, whether the act of supplying the food that the person has manufactured and processed to that restaurant by using storage and transportation facilities may be regarded as an act carried out in the course of distribution as a transaction between separate business operators (affirmative) [3] A case in which Defendant B, the representative director of Defendant A Co., Ltd., which directly operates five restaurants, was prosecuted on the indictment alleging that he committed the unregistered food manufacturing and processing business by leasing a commercial unit in the name of the company, installing refrigerators and other equipment there, making four kinds of seasoned vegetables, and then supplying them to each of the restaurants directly operated by the company so that they were served to customers as side dishes with the food ordered, and in which it was held that the act of Defendant B corresponded to the unregistered food manufacturing and processing business
Summary of the holding
[1] 식품위생법 제36조 제1항, 식품위생법 시행령 제21조 제1호, 제8호 (나)목, 식품위생법 시행규칙 제36조 [별표 14]를 종합하면, 식품제조·가공업은 최종 소비자의 개별 주문과 상관없이 소비자에게 식품이 제공되는 장소와 구별되는 장소에서 일정한 시설을 갖추어 식품을 만들고, 만들어진 식품을 주로 유통과정을 거쳐 소비자에게 제공하는 형태의 영업을 가리키고, 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업은 식품을 조리한 그 영업소에서 최종 소비자에게 식품을 직접 제공하여 취식할 수 있게 하는 형태의 영업을 가리킨다. 식품을 만드는 장소와 식품이 소비자에게 제공되는 장소가 동일한지와 식품을 만든 다음 이를 소비자에게 제공하기까지 별도의 유통과정을 거치는지는 위 각 영업을 구별하는 주요한 요소이다. [2] 식품위생법은 식품 관련 영업을 하려는 사람은 영업종류별 또는 영업소별로 신고의무 또는 등록의무를 이행하도록 정하고 있다(식품위생법 제37조 제4항, 제5항). 따라서 특정 영업소에 관하여 식품접객업 중 일반음식점영업 신고를 마친 사람이 별개의 장소에서 식품제조·가공업을 하려면 해당 장소를 영업소로 하여 식품제조·가공업 등록의무를 이행해야 한다. 동일인이 별개의 장소에서 식품제조·가공업과 일반음식점영업을 각각 영위하고 있더라도, 그가 자신이 제조·가공한 식품을 보관·운반시설을 이용하여 그 음식점에 제공하는 행위는 별개의 사업자 간의 거래로서 유통과정을 거치는 행위라고 보아야 한다. [3] 5곳의 음식점을 직영하는 피고인 갑 주식회사의 대표자인 피고인 을이 회사 명의로 상가를 임차하여 그곳에 냉장고 등을 설치하고 시래기 등 나물류 4종을 만든 다음 이를 회사가 각 직영하는 음식점에 공급하여 손님에게 주문한 음식의 반찬으로 제공함으로써 무등록 식품제조·가공업을 하였다는 공소사실로 기소된 사안에서, 피고인 을이 피고인 갑 회사가 운영하는 식당과 별도의 장소에 일정한 시설을 갖추어 식품을 만든 다음 피고인 갑 회사가 각지에서 직영하는 음식점들에 배송하는 방법으로 일괄 공급함으로써 그 음식점들을 거쳐서 최종 소비자가 취식할 수 있게 한 행위는 무등록 식품제조·가공업을 한 것에 해당한다고 한 사례.
Order
상고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
All appeals are dismissed.
Provisions referred to
[1] 식품위생법 제36조 제1항, 식품위생법 시행령 제21조 제1호, 제8호 (나)목, 식품위생법 시행규칙 제36조 [별표 14] [2] 식품위생법 제36조 제1항, 제37조 제4항, 제5항, 식품위생법 시행령 제21조 제1호, 제26조의2 제1항 제1호 [3] 식품위생법 제36조 제1항, 제37조 제4항, 제5항, 식품위생법 시행령 제21조 제1호, 제26조의2 제1항 제1호
Read 2026-10-25 · Cross-read 2026-10-25. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
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