Representative Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party Proposes Related Law
"Expecting Improvement in Inspectors' Competence through Evaluation and Consulting"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Legislation to institutionalize the 'Mystery Shopper' system is being promoted to improve the inspection quality of private vehicle inspection centers. This is a measure to enhance inspection capabilities in response to criticisms that private inspection centers are being operated inadequately.
According to political circles on the 10th, Representative Jong-sik Heo of the Democratic Party of Korea recently introduced the "Partial Amendment to the Automobile Management Act" containing these provisions as the main sponsor.
Currently, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority has been conducting a capability evaluation using the 'Mystery Shopper' method since 2020, which involves inspecting vehicles with defects without notifying the inspection centers and then evaluating the results and inspection process to verify the quality of private inspection centers.
However, since the capability evaluation system is not legislated, if private inspection centers refuse, it becomes difficult for the Transportation Safety Authority to properly conduct consulting after the evaluation.
A representative from Rep. Heo's office explained, "Consulting was conducted for about 200 private inspection centers last year as well. However, considering that the failure rate of private inspection centers is still lower compared to the Transportation Safety Authority and that the number of poorly performing inspection companies is actually increasing, it is necessary to increase consulting for the safety of the public."
In fact, private inspection centers have consistently been criticized for inadequate operations. According to the office of Jong-bae Lee of the People Power Party, from 2017 to June of this year, 389 private inspection centers were found to have conducted poor inspections. This accounts for 17.5% of all inspected centers.
Additionally, the failure rate was relatively low. In the first half of this year, about 1.37 million vehicles were inspected at public inspection centers, with a failure rate of approximately 24.4%. However, among about 5.09 million vehicles inspected at private centers, the failure rate was only 20.8%.
A representative from Rep. Heo's office stated, "This bill establishes the legal basis for automobile inspection capability evaluation and consulting, including provisions for providing guidance, counseling, and technical support to operators with poor evaluation results, or requesting administrative actions from local governments by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in case of serious defects. It is a law aimed at managing and improving the inspection quality and capabilities of private inspection centers through the stabilization of the automobile inspection capability evaluation system."
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