KEPCO, KHNP Retirees' Employment Companies Banned from Private Contracts for 2 Years

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Recommends Improvement of 60 Internal Regulations in 18 Agencies through 'Corruption Impact Assessment'
Ban on Two-Year Private Contracts with Companies Employing Retired Executives
Includes Mandatory Electronic Registration of Private Contracts

Eunjung Park, Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. / Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] From now on, 18 energy public institutions including Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) will be prohibited from entering into direct contracts with companies where retirees have been employed as executives for two years. Registration of direct contracts in the electronic system will be mandatory.

On the 10th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced that it conducted a corruption impact assessment on the internal regulations of these institutions and prepared 60 improvement measures. These were recommended to 16 public enterprises including KEPCO and 2 local public corporations.

The ACRC identified 11 improvements related to contracts, 5 related to employee welfare, and 2 related to personnel matters.

Regarding contracts, the measures include mandatory use of the electronic procurement system for direct contracts and maintaining and managing records of investment review committee deliberations.

Employee welfare improvements include establishing objective criteria for research allowances for researchers participating in government projects.

Personnel-related measures include introducing promotion restrictions for those undergoing disciplinary procedures.

The ACRC stated that it analyzed internal regulations and referred to best practices from KEPCO, KHNP, KOGAS, and others to prepare the improvement plans.

In particular, for direct contracts, four institutions including KOGAS, which had not previously managed small-value direct contracts electronically, will now be required to register and manage these contracts in the electronic system.

To prevent undue influence, retirees who are representatives or executives of companies will be barred from direct contracts for two years, and this will be reflected in the contract management system. Procedures to verify the subjects of direct contract restrictions will be established.

This is because, as of last year, the proportion of direct contracts in four public institutions including Korea National Oil Corporation exceeded 30% of total contracts (approximately 2.3 trillion KRW).

Source=Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The ACRC expects that these improvements will enhance the fairness and transparency of direct contracts.

The deadline for implementing these recommended improvements is October 31. The ACRC will continue to evaluate anti-corruption policies and conduct ongoing compliance checks to verify whether institutions have implemented the measures.

Chairperson Park Eun-jung of the ACRC said, "We were able to prepare desirable internal regulation improvements through sufficient consultation among institutions based on public opinion. Going forward, we will continue to develop desirable internal regulation improvements that meet public expectations by referring to these improvements."

The ACRC also announced plans to continuously promote internal regulation improvements for 36 public enterprises and 151 local public corporations and public organizations in sectors such as airports, ports, and transportation, starting with the energy sector recommendations.

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