KEPCO, KHNP, KOGAS, KNOC and 18 Energy Public Institutions Begin Reviewing Internal Regulation Improvement Proposals

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Appoints 36 Advisory Committee Members... "Thorough Review of the Validity and Rationality of Public Institution Unfair Regulation Improvement Plans"

Photo by Korea Electric Power Corporation

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will begin an official review after receiving public opinions on whether the internal regulations of 18 energy public institutions, including Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), Korea Gas Corporation, and Korea National Oil Corporation, contain abuses of authority or unfair personnel practices.

On the 29th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced that an advisory panel for corruption impact assessment, composed of 36 experts across eight fields including defense, industry, environment, health, and economy, will start reviewing the validity and rationality of proposals to improve unfair and unreasonable internal regulations in public institutions.

Data provided by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

Previously, only two fields?legislation and policy?were addressed, but the advisory committee's fields have now been subdivided into eight areas including defense, industry, environment, health, and economy. The number of advisory members for corruption impact assessment has also increased from 21 to 36. This expansion allows for more specialized advice not only on the enactment and revision of laws but also on the internal regulations of public institutions.

Advisory members include Professor Choi Muhyun from the Department of Public Administration at Sangji University for general administration, Moon Chaebong, Research Director at the Korea Defense Research Institute for defense and veterans affairs, and Kim Seungjong, Research Fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements for industrial development. Their term runs from the 7th of this month until April 6, 2022.

Data provided by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The advisory panel will begin by reviewing proposals to improve unfair internal regulations in 18 energy sector public institutions such as KEPCO, KHNP, Korea Gas Corporation, and Korea National Oil Corporation.

Earlier, from the 6th to the 24th, the ACRC collected public opinions on issues in the internal regulations of energy public institutions, including abuse of authority and discretion, unfair personnel practices, and inappropriate welfare benefits. Based on this, experts will now thoroughly examine the improvement proposals.

The ACRC received reports from the public regarding these institutions' internal regulations, specifically on ▲possible abuse of authority or discretion related to private contracts, ▲inappropriate welfare provisions operated as customary practices, and ▲unfair personnel regulations with concerns over discretionary abuse in hiring and promotion.

This is part of the corruption impact assessment system established by the ACRC for public institutions. The corruption impact assessment is an anti-corruption control mechanism that analyzes and evaluates corruption-inducing factors from the legislative drafting stage and recommends corrections to institutions in advance. It is one of the mandatory government legislative procedures when enacting or revising laws.

Data provided by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The ACRC has operated the corruption impact assessment advisory panel every two years since 2008. The previous panel of 21 members, launched in 2018, provided advisory opinions on a total of 62 cases of enacted and revised laws by April this year, including the scope of persons related to duties under the 'Public Officials Conflict of Interest Prevention Act,' interpretations of 'special reasons to consider circumstances' under the 'Local Contract Act Enforcement Rules,' and the validity of regulations on bidder qualifications for corrupt businesses under the 'Local Public Enterprises Act.'

Based on the advisory opinions, the ACRC conducted corruption impact assessments on 1,644 enacted and revised laws of central administrative agencies last year and recommended improvements on 335 corruption-inducing factors contained in 113 laws to the relevant institutions.

Im Yoonju, Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau at the ACRC, said, "We will design more refined proposals to improve internal regulations of public institutions based on the objective and professional advice of the corruption impact assessment advisory panel. We will continue to utilize various policy tools to ensure that unfair and unreasonable internal regulations closely related to citizens' lives are improved."

After reviewing the improvement proposals for energy public institutions' internal regulations, the advisory panel plans to sequentially review proposals for 187 public institutions subject to inspection this year together with the ACRC.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.