Seoul City to Collect 'Unnecessary Regulation' Ideas from Departments and Employees Throughout January

Employees Providing Excellent Ideas Receive 'Incentives'

Seoul City will collect ideas for unnecessary regulations from all departments and employees throughout January.

On the 3rd, Seoul City announced that employees who are most familiar with the necessity and issues of regulations at the frontline will directly identify regulations and propose improvement ideas. Earlier, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon named the abolition of unnecessary regulations as the top priority for Seoul's administration in the new year.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is attending the 'Hope 2025 Sharing Campaign Fruit of Love Delivery Ceremony' held at Seoul City Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 2nd. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

The city has designated January as a 'Special Proposal Period' to receive employee ideas. Ideas can also be submitted at any time after January.

The topics include all regulations that impose unnecessary restrictions on the creative and free activities of Seoul citizens, such as those related to the livelihood economy, transportation, welfare, environment, architecture, and development. This includes laws, ordinances, rules, as well as Seoul City guidelines and procedures.

Employees who propose excellent ideas will receive incentives. The city has increased the creative proposal award from the previous top prize of 5 million KRW to a newly established grand prize of up to 8 million KRW. Awards for creative administration and opportunities for special promotions (for regulatory reform contributors) will also be provided.

Additionally, the city will conduct a comprehensive review of about 4,100 creative proposals received over the past two years of the 8th elected administration to discover regulatory reform ideas that have not been identified so far.

Furthermore, to ensure that public officials leading regulatory reform and proactive administration do not suffer disadvantages such as blame-shifting or unnecessary audits, 'Proactive Administration Pre-Consulting' will be applied from the idea discovery and selection stages.

From the 3rd until April 12, the city will also operate a 'Citizen Intensive Reporting System' for 100 days, allowing citizens to report unreasonable or unnecessary regulations across all areas of city administration. Reported regulations will be re-examined by the relevant departments for the necessity of retention, and if deemed highly in need of improvement, will be submitted to the regulatory abolition meeting chaired by the mayor for bold abolition.

Song Gwang-nam, Seoul City Policy Planning Officer, said, "Public officials on the regulatory frontline will proactively identify and abolish unnecessary regulations, directly contributing to economic revitalization and the recovery of citizens' livelihoods."