Regulatory Reform
Focusing on Boosting Economy
- The Regulatory Reform Task Force, the first joint regulatory reform body
between govOt and business

A task force on regulatory reform is putting more energy into implementing tasks with widespread economic effects, including improvement of the business investment climate, in a bid to facilitate more economic activity.
Park Key-chong, deputy minister for policy planning & management under the Prime Minister's Office, said, "Lump-sum regulations, considered to have a far-reaching impact on the local economy will be overhauled in a systematic way in cooperation with several related government agencies."
The Regulatory Reform Task Force, inaugurated under the Prime Minister's Office last late August, is the first regulatory reform body, jointly formed by the government and the private sector - manned 25 members dispatched each by the government and the business sector, Park said in an interview with NewsWorld.
As part of efforts to reform existing regulations systematically, the Regulatory Reform Task Force will select lump-sum regulations, which involve multiple government offices with widespread effects on regulatory reform as strategic tasks and reform them on a regular basis.
The task force was established to change regulatory frames that may hinder businesses free economic activities or be considered not realistic or logical in guaranteeing public lives, and regulatory reform will be conducted on the part of clients the people and corporations, he said.
Most of the restrictions are taken in the form of laws, ordinances of local governments and rules, some of which were enacted 20 and 30 years ago. Despite partial law revisions, there are many cases that extremely regulate economic activities and people's lives because their core restrictive frames are still existent.
Deputy Minister Park said the task force is focusing on overhauling irrationally restrictive frames in a full-fledged manner. In reality, the government has made strenuous efforts to remove as many restrictions as possible, but it is true for the business community and the public to have experienced the effects regulatory reforms have reached. A survey of businessmen, conducted last December by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, indicated that 90 percents of the respondents said the outcomes of regulatory reform were unsatisfactory. The reason is that regulatory reform has been made primarily on individual regulations, rather than overhauling lump-sum regulations on which the public and business community put priority.
The government has made efforts to damp a rise in restrictions through a system of screening restrictive measures, but the number of new restrictions has been increasing as such policy goals as changing the environment of society, new technologies, creation of new industries, control on real estate speculation and environmental protection have been raised. Law-enforcement public servants are unwilling to proactively deal with public applications, blamed for causing extensive costs and time.
In this vein, the task force on regulatory reform is focusing on overhauling lump-sum restrictions that have far-reaching economic effects and have been in place by several government agencies.
The Regulatory Reform Committee (RRC), established in 1998 under the control of the Prime Minister's Office, is designed to make concerted efforts to get rid of unnecessary regulations and improve quality of the existing ones. The RRC, jointly headed by the prime minister and a civilian representative, is discharged with compiling and coordinating regulatory reform policies. The committee recommends any new regulations in question and any bids to strengthen existing ones would be rectified if they are found to be erroneously conceived. The number of cases calling for enactment of laws or law amendments that are submitted to the RRC for review is estimated approximately at 1,000 every year - 897 cases in 2002, 947 in 2003.
The Regulatory Reform Task Force has designed 65 strategic tasks subject to regulatory reform in such areas, logistics, distribution, construction, architecture, corporate investment environment and leisure, welfare, info-tech and financial sector with completion of overhauling them slated for the late June in 2006.
Park said current laws stipulate only dos people and corporations can conduct under the positive system, thus extremely restricting people and corporation activities. As a result, Park said, "The regulatory system should be changed to a negative one in which all except banned or restricted specifics, are allowed. To this end, he said, it is necessary to set the screening standards for arranging new regulations or bids to strengthen existing ones under the negative system".
Regulatory reform will be accelerated by local governments, which serve as a main contact point for regulation enforcement. Focus will be put on unreasonable regulations for resolution, backing up regulations with laws, clarifying abstract regulations, and simplifying the approval & permit process. Unreasonable regulation enforcement practices like passive attitude on the part of public officials will be improved.
Local governments will establish and share a regulatory reform models within local government bodies. Each local government will follow the model to set up and complete a regulatory reform plan in the first half of the year. A finalized regulatory reform plan will be implemented to overhaul all the rules & regulations in a lump-sum manner in the second half of the year. Regulatory reform performances of local governments will be examined and evaluated in December 2005.
The Regulatory Reform Committee will address redundant regulations which the government put under quasi-public organizations responsibility and which have an actual impact on people. Regulations run by such institutions as associations, corporations, and business organizations established by a special law or organizations, which are entrusted by the government will be streamlined.
Guidelines for overhauling redundant regulations, including overhauling principles and cases by type will be shared. A plan for streamlining redundant regulations will be set up through discussion between government offices and relevant organizations responsible for overhauling. An expert sub-committee will be created by area in the Regulatory Reform Task Force in order to study redundant administration regulations as a whole and to finalize a plan for overhauling them. Regulatory reform will be pursued on a user-oriented basis.
Cooperation with business associations, foreign chambers of commerce & industry will be maintained, and suggestions for regulatory reform will be gathered periodically. Public suggestions for regulatory reform will be collected and they will be reflected into regulatory reform.
The Regulatory Reform Task Force visits local residents and business people to hear their opinions and views on regulatory reform to come up with practical improvement measures and to support regional regulatory reform, while holding on-site briefings and discussions on the governmental plans for regulatory reform to secure public participation and support for regulatory reform. nw