[2021 National Audit] Regulatory Improvement Acceptance Rate 36% Over 5 Years... Fair Trade Commission, Fire Agency, and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family at '0%'

Song Jae-ho "Era's demands changed due to COVID-19... Actively considering improvement of unnecessary regulations"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The acceptance rate of regulatory improvement tasks proposed by the Public-Private Joint Regulatory Improvement Promotion Team of the Office for Government Policy Coordination to government ministries was found to be only 36% on average over the past five years. Some ministries, including the Fair Trade Commission, the Fire Agency, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, recorded a 0% acceptance rate in certain years.

According to data received by Song Jae-ho, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from the Office for Government Policy Coordination on the 19th, the acceptance rates of regulatory improvement proposals by ministries were 25.5% in 2017, 30.7% in 2018, 42.4% in 2019, 36.1% in 2020, and 46.1% in 2021.

By ministry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had the highest number of proposed tasks. The acceptance rates relative to the number of proposals were low: 136 cases (14%) in 2017, 162 cases (18%) in 2018, 154 cases (20%) in 2019, 145 cases (37%) in 2020, and 61 cases (23%) in 2021.

There were also ministries with a 'zero' (0%) acceptance rate. The Fair Trade Commission did not accept any of the 11 proposals suggested by the Promotion Team in 2017. Last year, it accepted only 1 out of 17 proposals (6%). The Fire Agency recorded a 0% acceptance rate in 2018, 2020, and 2021, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family recorded 0% in 2017, 2018, and 2020, respectively.

Many of the regulatory improvement tasks involve regulations closely related to the safety and daily lives of citizens. For example, among the cases that the Ministry of Employment and Labor found difficult to accept were ▲ conducting appropriate cause investigations by type of major accident ▲ the need for measures to protect good-faith employers from malicious bad workers ▲ requests for applying the minimum wage system according to different situations.

In response, the Public-Private Joint Regulatory Improvement Promotion Team of the Office for Government Policy Coordination was launched in 2004 to discover and improve regulatory issues for small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners. It is jointly led by the Director of the Regulatory Coordination Office of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Vice Presidents of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea Federation of SMEs. However, aside from reflecting the tasks in government performance evaluations, there is no enforcement power or incentives for task implementation, making it difficult for the difficulties of small business owners to overcome the walls of government ministries, Song pointed out.

Song emphasized, "When implementing regulatory policies, it is inevitable to restrict the rights or impose obligations on citizens and businesses, so good regulations must have benefits that far outweigh the costs. As the standards for regulations are changing rapidly due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the fast-changing era, government ministries, centered on the Office for Government Policy Coordination, need to actively improve outdated regulations."

Song Jae-ho, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. (Photo by Yonhap News)