Government-Hosted Contests to Significantly Strengthen 'Fairness and Reliability'

Establishment of Mandatory Review Committees and Strengthening of Fraud Verification Regulations

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] From now on, when administrative agencies hold contests targeting the public, the entire process?from contest announcements and judging to the disclosure of winning entries?will be systematically managed according to unified regulations. Verification of fraudulent activities will also be strengthened through online public verification of winning candidates.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that the "Regulations on the Operation of Contests by Administrative Agencies" were approved at the Cabinet meeting on the same day. This regulation was legislated to improve the management system of contests held by administrative agencies after multiple cases of winning entries submitted with plagiarism occurred, aiming to prevent such incidents.

The main contents of the regulation include ▲scope of application ▲establishment of implementation plans ▲formation of judging committees ▲verification of fraudulent activities and post-management ▲management system. The regulation defines applicable contests as "competitions or contests where central administrative agencies and their affiliated organizations publicly solicit creative opinions, designs, or works from the public regarding policies or public services, conduct judging, and award certificates, prize money, or prizes to winners." However, contests targeting affiliated employees or those for educational purposes aimed at infants, elementary, and secondary students with small prize amounts are excluded from the scope.

Furthermore, before conducting a contest, administrative agencies are required to review whether there is any overlap with existing contests and establish an implementation plan containing necessary details. The implementation plan must include the contest content, eligibility criteria, judging standards and methods for winning entries, criteria for judging fraudulent activities and verification methods, disclosure of winning entries, and cancellation of awards.

In addition, to ensure fair and objective judging of entries, a judging committee must be established for each contest to decide the winners. The committee should consist of at least five members, including relevant public officials and experts, with a majority being civilian members. If necessary, additional judging involving direct public participation, such as online voting, may be conducted.

The regulation institutionalizes verification and post-management of fraudulent activities in contests. It sets criteria for judging plagiarism, forgery, unfair duplicate submissions, and other fraudulent acts, and prevents fraud through online public verification of winning candidates for at least 10 days. If fraud is detected after awarding, the prize will be revoked.

To ensure efficient operation, a management system will also be established. Each agency will designate a management department to periodically check the status of contest operations, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will build and operate an integrated contest management system to collect and provide related information such as contest announcements and results in one place.

This regulation on the operation of contests by administrative agencies applies to central administrative agencies and their affiliates. Local governments are encouraged to enact and operate related ordinances based on this regulation to promote fair contest operations. Han Chang-seop, Director of the Government Innovation Organization Office, said, "With the establishment of regulations on the operation of contests by administrative agencies, contests can now be managed more transparently and systematically," and added, "We hope that contests will gain public trust and effectively collect public opinions."

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