"Corporate Regulation Stronger Than Competing Countries... Shift to Negative Regulation Needed"

KEF Survey of 219 Experts

It has been found that the level of corporate regulation in South Korea in advanced industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) is higher than that of competing countries. Experts have analyzed that, in order for Korean companies to secure global competitiveness, there needs to be a paradigm shift toward negative regulation, as well as the use of various tools such as subsidies and tax support.

On December 23, the Korea Employers Federation conducted a survey of 219 experts, including professors of economics, business, and public administration at four-year universities nationwide, on "Recent Regulatory Innovation Policies and Major Regulatory Issues." According to the results, 76.7% of respondents said that the level of corporate regulation in Korea's advanced and new industries is "higher than that of competing countries (the United States, Japan, and China)." This was followed by 19.2% who said it is "similar to competing countries," and 4.1% who said it is "lower than competing countries."

Korea Employers Federation

Regarding recent legislative activities in the National Assembly, 46.6% of respondents said they "do not help regulatory innovation." Meanwhile, 38.4% said they "help regulatory innovation," and 15% answered "not sure."

As for the government's promotion of regulatory innovation policies, 58.5% of respondents evaluated the current administration's regulatory innovation policies as "positive," while 27.9% viewed them as "negative." The reasons for positive evaluations (multiple responses allowed) were as follows: 57.0% cited "the goal of rationalizing unreasonable and unnecessary regulations," 53.1% cited "the President's strong will for regulatory innovation," and 39.8% cited "a focus on consumer needs, performance orientation, and swift regulatory innovation."

When asked about the most necessary regulatory innovation system for fostering and developing Korea's advanced and new industries, 61.6% of respondents (multiple responses allowed) chose "transition to negative regulation (permission in principle, prohibition by exception)."

Regarding the recent demand by the National Delivery Workers' Union of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions for a "ban on early morning delivery," 78.5% of respondents opposed the ban. Only 18.3% supported the ban on early morning delivery.

The reasons for opposing the ban on early morning delivery (multiple responses allowed) were as follows: 58.7% cited "inconvenience to consumers such as office workers and dual-income households," 41.9% cited "delivery workers prefer early morning delivery due to work convenience," and 37.2% cited "reduction in jobs related to early morning delivery."

Kim Jaehyun, Head of Regulatory Reform at the Korea Employers Federation, stated, "In the era of AI-driven transformation and competition for supremacy in advanced industries such as semiconductors, countries are providing extensive support to their domestic companies through various means, including massive subsidies, tax incentives, and export controls, to help them secure global competitiveness." He added, "To ensure that our companies can also secure global competitiveness, we must remove regulatory barriers and shift the regulatory paradigm to a negative approach that enables continuous innovation."