Amendment of the National Finance Act and Concurrent Institutional Improvements
Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance, is speaking on the future outlook and response strategies for the Middle East conflict at the Foreign Economic Ministers' Meeting held on the 25th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@
The government has decided to prepare supplementary measures, including strengthening expert review functions, to minimize side effects following the abolition of the research and development (R&D) preliminary feasibility study system.
On the 17th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced in a press release jointly issued with related ministries immediately after the National Fiscal Strategy Meeting chaired by President Yoon Seok-yeol, "We are promoting a system reform centered on the abolition of the R&D preliminary feasibility study to expedite and flexibly advance R&D projects."
It added, "We are also reviewing procedural supplementary measures to reinforce expert review functions during the budget deliberation process." This is to prevent side effects such as project failure and budget waste that may arise from the abolition of the preliminary feasibility study.
The government plans to pursue follow-up measures such as revising the National Finance Act while also preparing flexible preliminary feasibility study measures for the transitional period before the legal amendments. Based on this system reform, it intends to significantly expand next year's R&D budget.
Currently, for financial projects with a total project cost of 50 billion KRW (30 billion KRW in national funds) or more, a preliminary feasibility study lasting several months must be passed.
The science and technology community has continuously demanded easing R&D preliminary feasibility study regulations to keep pace with rapid technological changes. Major advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan operate pre-review systems focused on planning and supplementation without prior preliminary feasibility studies.
President Yoon officially announced the abolition of the preliminary feasibility study on the day and instructed, "Completely abolish the R&D preliminary feasibility study, which is the foundation of growth, and greatly expand the scale of investment."
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