Kwonikwi "National Professional Qualification Exam Fees Must Be Paid Separately for 1st and 2nd Stages"

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The practice of requiring candidates taking the first and second stages of national professional qualification exams, such as tax accountant and customs broker exams, to pay the second stage exam fee at the time of registration regardless of whether they pass the first stage is expected to be improved.

On the 27th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it recommended the relevant ministries in charge of qualification exams to collect exam fees separately by stage for national professional qualification exams that have first and second stages.

It also recommended that exam fees be refunded if candidates are unable to take the exam on the exam day due to unavoidable reasons.

According to the Commission, among national professional qualification exams, 21 exams including tax accountant exams are conducted in separate stages, but the exam fees are collected all at once.

Because of this, candidates who fail the first stage have been burdened with the second stage exam fee even if they do not take the second stage, which has been continuously criticized as unreasonable.

Additionally, for 37 types of national professional qualification exams such as lawyer and specialized nurse exams, there was an issue where candidates could not get a refund of the exam fee even if they could not take the exam due to the death of an immediate family member on the exam day.

Accordingly, the Commission recommended the relevant ministries in charge of these national professional qualification exams to improve these unreasonable practices by October next year.

For exams conducted in separate first and second stages, exam fees should be collected by stage; however, if the first stage pass rate is very high and the benefit of separating fees is minimal, integrated collection may be maintained, and regulations should be established to refund the second stage exam fee to candidates who fail the first stage.

Furthermore, regulations should be established to refund part of the exam fee if candidates cannot take the exam on the exam day due to personal accidents, illnesses, or other reasons.

Kwon Seokwon, Director of the Policy Improvement Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said, "We hope this system improvement will relieve the unreasonable burdens and inconveniences faced by citizens taking national qualification exams," adding, "We will continue to proactively identify and actively improve various unfair and unreasonable issues that citizens experience in their daily lives."

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