Two Years of the 'Local Autonomy Pre-Consultation' System: 3,268 Laws Reviewed, 81 Improvement Recommendations Made...

Publication of the 'Local Autonomy Pre-Consultation Performance Report' Commemorating the 2nd Anniversary of the System Implementation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The 'Pre-consultation on Decentralization' system, introduced in July 2019 and marking its second anniversary, continues to serve as a guardian that prevents infringement on local autonomy rights during the legislative process.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's report on the achievements of the Pre-consultation on Decentralization on the 1st, over the past two years (July 2019 to June 2021), a total of 3,268 laws and regulations were reviewed through the Pre-consultation on Decentralization, and among them, 81 cases with concerns about infringement on local autonomy rights were recommended for improvement to the relevant ministries.

The Pre-consultation on Decentralization is a system where the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reviews whether all laws and regulations proposed or amended by central administrative agencies infringe on local autonomy rights at the legislative notice stage, and if there is a possibility of infringement, seeks improvement measures together with the relevant ministries.

The acceptance rate of improvement recommendations by the relevant ministries is very high at 90.1%, and among the 58 laws and regulations that have completed enactment or amendment, 51 cases (87.9%) reflected the improvement recommendations in the final version. Since there is no separate procedure to pre-review local autonomy infringement concerns for bills proposed by lawmakers, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been pilot reviewing such bills under its jurisdiction, including those from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, according to the Pre-consultation on Decentralization standards since March, providing opinions to the relevant ministries.

Going forward, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to revise and supplement the review criteria of the Pre-consultation on Decentralization to ensure that the 'cooperative relationship between the state and local governments' aimed at by the fully revised Local Autonomy Act is faithfully implemented in government legislation. Additionally, an online education program will be developed and operated to enhance public officials' capabilities in reviewing laws from the perspective of decentralization.

Park Seong-ho, Director of the Local Autonomy and Decentralization Office, stated, “We will further develop the Pre-consultation on Decentralization system so that authority between the state and local governments is reasonably distributed and local autonomy rights are substantially guaranteed.”