Regulatory Bills Flooded In: 1,219 Cases in 6 Months

Regulatory Bills Proposed in the 21st National Assembly
33% Increase Compared to the Same Period in the 20th National Assembly
Government-Initiated Bills Surge by 142%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Since the start of the 21st National Assembly's term, an average of 201 regulatory bills per month, totaling 1,219 bills, have been proposed over six months. This represents a 33% increase compared to 917 bills during the same period of the 20th National Assembly. The main reason is the competitive introduction of 'corporate tightening' bills, primarily by lawmakers from the ruling party.

According to the Regulatory Information Portal of the Presidential Committee on Regulatory Reform on the 22nd, from May 30 to November 20, during the 21st National Assembly, 739 regulatory bills were proposed by lawmakers, and 480 bills were government legislative notices. The Regulatory Information Portal discloses bills classified by the Ministry of Government Legislation as those establishing or strengthening regulations among the proposed bills. Since it takes about a month from the bill's proposal to classification, currently only data on bills proposed up to mid to late November are available.

The number of regulatory bills has significantly increased compared to the 20th National Assembly. In particular, regulatory bills directly legislated by the government have more than doubled. During the same period of the 20th National Assembly, 719 regulatory bills were proposed by lawmakers, and 198 were government legislative notices. Compared to the 21st National Assembly, lawmaker-proposed bills increased by 2.7%, but government legislative notices increased by 142%.

Examining lawmaker-proposed bills by standing committee, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, where real estate regulation was a major issue, had the most with 168 bills. Following that were committees related to corporate regulation: the Health and Welfare Committee (125 bills), the Environment and Labor Committee (102 bills), the Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Business Committee (94 bills), and the Strategy and Finance Committee (65 bills).

Among government legislative notice bills, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the main department for real estate policy, had the most regulations with 97 bills. Departments responsible for corporate regulation such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor (21 bills), the Financial Services Commission (18 bills), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (15 bills), and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (12 bills) also ranked high.

A bigger problem is that many regulatory bills are not even captured by the Regulatory Information Portal. According to the National Assembly Bill Information System, the three corporate regulation laws?the partial amendment bill of the Commercial Act, the partial amendment bill of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, and the Financial Group Supervision Act?had 15, 53, and 1 lawmaker-proposed bills respectively during the same period, but none were registered on the Regulatory Information Portal.

The business community is concerned about the lack of effective countermeasures. A representative of an economic organization said, "In the case of the three corporate regulation laws, we actively voiced our opinions, but the bills passed without significant changes," adding, "Bills that were previously considered unlikely to pass are now becoming reality, putting companies in a state of panic."

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