Government Opinion on Serious Accident Punishment Act, Application Postponed Depending on Company Size

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The government has proposed a phased introduction of the Serious Accident Punishment Act currently under discussion in the National Assembly, with the application timing differing based on the size of the workplace. Additionally, the proposal includes overall easing measures such as lowering the level of penalties.

According to the National Assembly on the 29th, the Ministry of Justice compiled opinions from various government departments and delivered them to the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee yesterday afternoon. The committee plans to hold a subcommittee meeting to review the bill on the morning of the same day.

The government suggested implementing the law one year after promulgation for workplaces with 100 or more employees, two years later for those with 50 to 100 employees, and four years later for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. While the Democratic Party's bills only include a four-year grace period for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, the government believes that larger workplaces also need preparation time.

Regarding punitive damages, the government proposed a limit of 'up to five times' the amount of damages, significantly lower than the original bill's 'five times or more' and the Justice Party lawmaker Kang Eun-mi's proposal of 'three to ten times.'

For penalties on business owners and management officials, the bill pending in the National Assembly stipulates 'imprisonment for more than two years or a fine of more than 500 million KRW,' whereas the government proposal sets the upper limit at 'between 50 million KRW and 1 billion KRW.'

Concerning the 'presumption of causation' clause for business owners and management officials, the Ministry of Justice expressed an opinion to delete it, citing that it may contradict the principle of presumption of innocence. Regarding public officials' responsibility, the scope was narrowed to 'public officials with licensing or supervisory authority under laws and regulations who commit dereliction of duty under criminal law.' The government proposal also suggests deleting the original bill's recognition of 'heads of central administrative agencies' and 'heads of local governments' as management officials.

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