[Square] 'Voices from the Field' Narrowing the Gap Between Law and Reality

Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), spring flower festivals scheduled to be held nationwide are being canceled one after another. I heard that the Sansuyu Flower Festival in Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do, was also canceled. I recalled my visit to Gurye earlier this year before COVID-19 spread as it has now. Located between Jirisan Mountain and the Seomjin River, Gurye is a place where you can feel the living, breathing nature. Every year, the yellow Sansuyu flowers bloom in full, attracting early spring visitors eager to experience the season’s charm. At that time, the Sansuyu trees had not yet blossomed, but on the way, I could vividly feel the vitality of nature from the mountain slopes and streams I encountered.

While admiring Gurye’s beautiful natural scenery, I also toured the eco-friendly food cluster district. Established in April 2014 by a consumer cooperative, this area is equipped with manufacturing workshops producing various products and operates diverse experience and tour facilities for visitors, helping to revitalize the local economy. Within the cluster district, there is an agricultural corporation operating a small-scale agricultural product packaging center. I had the opportunity to hear about the difficulties they face regarding food waste recycling.

To recycle food waste and other waste materials, one must, in principle, obtain a 'permit' for waste disposal business according to the Waste Management Act. Requiring an ordinary farmer cultivating a small piece of land to obtain a permit even when recycling food waste as fertilizer on their own farmland is somewhat excessive. Therefore, the law allows recycling with a simpler procedure of just 'notification' to reduce inconvenience for farmers.

However, even if the recycling method is the same, when the subject is an agricultural corporation rather than an individual farmer, different procedures were applied. The Ministry of Environment, the competent authority, held the position that agricultural corporations capable of large-scale recycling should be excluded from the simplified procedure intended to reduce the burden on small-scale farmers. Therefore, this agricultural corporation had to obtain a 'permit' to recycle food waste as fertilizer on its farmland. The law did not clearly specify excluding agricultural corporations from those who could simply notify.

The Ministry of Government Legislation initiated interdepartmental consultations. They judged that distinguishing by recycling capacity rather than by whether the notifier is an individual or a corporation aligns better with the law’s intent and helps alleviate public inconvenience. Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment actively accepted the opinion that not only individuals but also small-scale agricultural corporations with limited recycling volumes should be able to recycle by just notifying waste disposal. They are currently working on revising the law. Thanks to the meticulous review by the Ministry of Government Legislation and the proactive efforts of the competent ministry, a reasonable solution was reached, bringing good news to Gurye.

Since 2013, the Ministry of Government Legislation has been holding field meetings to listen to the vivid voices of the public and review and revise related laws based on them. These meetings are part of the legal revision work to identify and correct unreasonable laws or systems that cause inconvenience in daily life or economic activities. Targets for revision include unfair or discriminatory laws, laws that impose excessive burdens in the field, and laws vaguely or abstractly defined that may lead to abuse of discretion. Last year, they directly heard voices from various fields such as fostering innovative growth industries, revitalizing local economies, and promoting the sharing economy, and revised laws and systems to better fit reality.

To narrow the gap between law and reality and gain public trust in the law and government, it is essential to listen to the vivid voices from the field. As the greenery outside the window deepens, it has become the perfect season to visit the field. Going forward, the Ministry of Government Legislation intends to continuously listen to new voices and steadily go to the field to improve unreasonable laws. We hope to overcome COVID-19 as soon as possible, hear more voices from the field, and help revitalize the stagnant local economy.

Kim Hyung-yeon, Minister of Government Legislation