30 Economic Organizations Including KEC "Serious Accident Punishment Act, Excessive Regulation Unprecedented Worldwide"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) and 30 other economic organizations and industry associations jointly conveyed the business community's opinions on the 'Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act' bills, respectively proposed by the Justice Party and the Democratic Party of Korea, to the National Assembly on the 19th.

The KEF and the 30 economic organizations and industry associations stated, "The Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act is not only an over-regulatory legislation containing unprecedentedly severe sanctions worldwide, but it also approaches industrial safety and health issues with a focus on post-penalty rather than preventive measures, resulting in low policy effectiveness." They added, "It violates the constitutional 'principle of proportionality' and will rather suppress proactive and active safety management."

They explained, "Although there are 673 safety and health regulations related to employer punishment under the current Industrial Safety and Health Act, these regulations do not reflect the characteristics of industries or workplaces and regulate broadly and uniformly. Moreover, roles and responsibilities between management and on-site supervisors are not clearly established, placing all companies in a position of potential criminals who cannot escape responsibility for accidents." They expressed concern, "This bill imposes more abstract and comprehensive safety obligations on management (companies), individual business owners, and prime contractors, setting the minimum punishment at imprisonment for two or three years or more, causing an indescribable fear among companies."

The KEF and others explained that the bill "does not distinguish roles and responsibilities between prime contractors and subcontractors, imposes joint obligations for hazard and risk prevention and accident responsibility on prime contractors and subcontractors, violating the criminal law principle of 'responsibility,' and will reduce the professionalism of safety management and limit its effectiveness."

They also pointed out, "Although most accidents occur due to complex causes, the government does not conduct in-depth and comprehensive diagnoses of accident causes, does not disclose accident investigation results, and unilaterally places all responsibility for accidents on employers and prime contractors."

In particular, they emphasized, "Most fatal accidents occur in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are already struggling to comply with current safety regulations due to financial structure, facilities, and human limitations. If the Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act is enacted, these SMEs will inevitably be exposed to harsh penalties, threatening their very existence. Cases from advanced countries show that penalty-focused approaches to industrial safety measures tend to have limited accident prevention effects."

The KEF and others stated, "At this point, additional legislation to strengthen penalties should be avoided. To effectively reduce fatal accidents, it is more urgent to shift industrial safety policies toward preventive measures, as seen in advanced countries. In particular, the government should disclose past serious accident analysis results and, based on these, engage in in-depth discussions with experts to develop comprehensive diagnoses and prescriptions for accident prevention rather than enacting the Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act."

Meanwhile, regarding the recently proposed amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Act (proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Cheolmin Jang), they announced plans to submit business community opinions to the National Assembly after collecting industry feedback.

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