"Strengthening Penalties for Illegal Corporate Emissions"…Fines Up to 5% of Sales Imposed

Revised Environmental Crime Control Act to Take Effect from the 27th
2.5% Levy on Medium-Sized, 3% on Large Enterprises for First Offense
Strengthened Penalties for Illegal Corporate Activities...Enhancing Law Effectiveness

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] In the future, companies committing serious environmental crimes such as illegal discharge of harmful substances will be fined up to 5% of their annual sales.

According to the Ministry of Environment on the 3rd, the revised "Act on the Control and Aggravated Punishment of Environmental Crimes" containing these provisions will be enforced from the 27th of this month.

The revised Environmental Crime Control Act allows imposing fines up to 5% of annual sales and purification costs for acts such as ▲manipulating measurement data to discharge specific harmful substances and ▲intentionally operating unauthorized discharge facilities.

The Environmental Crime Control Act was amended in November last year to ensure the effectiveness of fine imposition. The previous method of calculating fines as "2 to 10 times the illegal discharge profits" was changed to "up to 5% of sales."

The amendment gained momentum following criticism that penalties were too lenient, such as a mere 2 million KRW fine imposed for manipulation of air pollutant emissions by some companies in the Yeosu Industrial Complex.

However, the revised fine system will not apply to crimes committed before the enforcement date (November 27) and will follow the previous regulations.

The revised enforcement decree stipulates that for the first detection, fines can be imposed up to 3% of sales (2.5% for small and medium enterprises), and from the second detection, up to 5% of sales.

There is also a provision to reduce fines by up to 80% if the violation is voluntarily reported and cooperation is provided during the investigation after correction.

Considering the severity and duration of the violation, specific rates will be set by public notice, and the authority to impose fines, previously delegated to local governments, will be reclaimed by the Ministry of Environment to impose fines directly. The public notice is planned to be completed by the end of this year.

Once the revised law is enforced, it is expected that the practice of pursuing illegal profits by exploiting low economic sanctions despite committing malicious environmental crimes will be eradicated.

Ryu Pil-moo, Director of Environmental Investigation at the Ministry of Environment, said, "With the enforcement of the revised law, the effectiveness of fines imposed on businesses violating environmental laws will increase, and acts such as manipulation of measurement data and intentional operation of unauthorized discharge facilities are expected to decrease."

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