Failure to Comply with Future Maritime Traffic Safety Inspection Results Will Result in 'Business Suspension'

Partial Amendment to the Maritime Safety Act Passed at the Cabinet Meeting

If Not Complied Without Justifiable Reason, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Can Request 'Suspension Order' for the Target Project

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] In the future, projects that do not comply with the results of maritime traffic safety inspections without justifiable reasons will be suspended.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 8th that the partial amendment bill of the "Maritime Safety Act" containing this content was passed at the Cabinet meeting.

The maritime traffic safety inspection system is a system that investigates, measures, and evaluates ship navigation safety risk factors that may arise from marine development projects such as pier development affecting maritime traffic safety, and it was implemented in November 2009. However, under the current law, the licensing and permitting agencies of the target projects are required to directly verify whether the projects comply with the inspection results, but there were no separate supplementary or sanction procedures in case the agencies did not proceed with the verification process of compliance with the inspection results.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries established a procedure in the amendment bill to verify whether the maritime traffic safety inspection results are properly implemented on site. Once the law is amended, the licensing and permitting agencies of the target projects must verify the compliance with the safety inspection and submit it to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. If they fail to verify or delay the verification without justifiable reasons, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries can request the licensing and permitting agencies to issue a suspension order for the project.

Along with this, the amendment bill also includes the basis for integrating and standardizing ship information, marine accident information, water depth, track, marine weather, and ship traffic volume and density information by sea area scattered across various agencies, and establishing a big data-based integrated information management system capable of analysis and information production. This system is scheduled to be completed by 2023 and will be used for public services such as e-navigation and government policy formulation.

Kim Hyun-tae, Director of the Maritime Safety Bureau at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "Once this amendment is finalized, it is expected to create institutional conditions to further strengthen maritime traffic safety," and added, "We plan to actively persuade the necessity of the amendment during the National Assembly's bill review stage to ensure the amendment can be implemented promptly."

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