'Paid Carpooling for Commuting Only' Legal Provision... Constitutional Court Rules "Constitutional"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the legal provision allowing carpooling, where passengers share a private car and split commuting costs, does not violate the Constitution.

On the 6th, the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the proviso in Article 81, Paragraph 1 of the Passenger Transport Service Act, which was challenged in a constitutional complaint for allegedly violating the principle of clarity under the principle of legality.

Mr. A was indicted in April-May 2017 for receiving money to give rides to others in his private car and was issued a summary order with a fine of 700,000 won. In February 2018, he filed a constitutional complaint arguing that Article 81 of the Transport Service Act at the time violated the principle of clarity under the principle of legality, citing the lack of specific criteria for the term "commuting time" stated in the law.

Before its amendment in August 2019, Article 81 of the Transport Service Act prohibited paid transportation using private vehicles but made an exception for "cases where passengers share a private car during commuting times."

However, the Constitutional Court stated, "This provision is not significantly different from the common understanding of regular commuting carpools, so it is possible to sufficiently predict the criteria for permitted commuting carpools through it, and it cannot be said to be so unclear as to cause arbitrary legal interpretation and application by law enforcement agencies."

It further explained, "Although the provision was amended in August 2019 during a social grand compromise process to specifically regulate the times and days for paid commuting transportation, it is difficult to view the amendment as a reflective consideration based on the existing provision being unclear and unconstitutional, and it does not violate the principle of clarity under the principle of legality."

Meanwhile, the legal provision was amended in August 2019 after the constitutional complaint trial. The amended law defines commuting hours as from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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