'National Data Policy Committee' Launched... Driving New Industry Growth Through Public-Private Synergy

National Data Policy Control Tower... Accelerating Regulatory Relaxation

Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, is briefing on the significance of the launch of the National Data Policy Committee and its future operational plans at the Government Seoul Office Building on the morning of the 14th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Soo-yeon] The data control tower, the 'National Data Policy Committee,' has officially launched to innovate regulations on data and new industries. Through this, the strategy is to revitalize the digital economy and enhance national competitiveness.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the launch of the National Data Policy Committee at LG Science Park in Magok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, presided over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

The committee serves as the comprehensive deliberation body for national data policies, based on the 'Framework Act on the Promotion and Use of the Data Industry (Data Industry Act)' enacted last October and the values pursued in the new government's national agenda. It will act as the national data policy control tower overseeing data industry promotion policies across both public and private sectors.

The committee consists of 15 government members, including the Prime Minister as chairperson, the Minister of Science and ICT, and the Minister of the Interior and Safety as joint secretaries, along with 15 private members.

Expansion of Private Sector Pseudonymized Data Self-Combination... Establishment of Metaverse Regulatory Framework

On this day, the committee discussed the first and second agenda items: regulatory improvement plans for data new industries and the establishment and promotion direction of the 1st Basic Plan for Data Industry Promotion.

Data has recently become central to digital transformation. Especially in new industries expected to grow rapidly, such as the metaverse and autonomous driving, securing data competitiveness is anticipated to determine national success or failure. Although the government has established a legal and institutional foundation for data distribution and utilization, including amendments to the three data laws, the industry has voiced the need for more active regulatory relief and institutional supplementation. There are limitations in the application scope of systems like MyData and pseudonymized data combination, and regulatory improvements are needed in new industries not previously discussed, such as the metaverse and Over-The-Top (OTT) services.

Accordingly, the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Ministry of Science and ICT held meetings with leading domestic digital companies such as Naver and Kakao, and through ministerial meetings of related departments, identified 13 regulatory improvement tasks: 8 in the data field and 5 in new industries.

The first agenda item, 'Regulatory Improvement Plans for Data New Industries,' includes the following key regulatory improvement tasks in the data field, such as MyData and pseudonymized data combination.

Currently, the provision of public MyData is limited to administrative agencies and banks; this will be expanded (additional designation) to corporations in telecommunications and medical fields. Also, private combination institutions will be allowed to perform pseudonymized data self-combination for third-party provision purposes, which was previously permitted only for public combination institutions. For example, pseudonymized card payment data can be combined with floating population information from credit card companies to establish big data-based sales strategies.

To alleviate inconveniences caused by the dual pseudonymized data combination system under the Personal Information Protection Act and the Credit Information Act, application documents for combination will be standardized, and new standards for the collection and use of personal information from rapidly increasing mobile video information processing devices such as drones and autonomous vehicles will be established.

Additionally, to promote the use of personal information and data, the expansion of personal information transmission request rights across all fields, safe reuse support for combined pseudonymized data in the financial sector, copyright law revisions to promote AI learning data utilization, and clear sanction standards for personal information infringement fines will also be pursued.

Regulations for fostering new industries such as the metaverse, autonomous driving, and OTT will be intensively improved.

Regarding the metaverse, there are industry concerns about the possible application of game regulations. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will promptly prepare guidelines within the year to distinguish between games and the metaverse for rational and consistent regulation by regulatory agencies. Furthermore, for international events like the '2030 Busan Expo,' metaverse content including games will be designated to be exempt from rating classification. Support will be provided for the enactment of a Metaverse Special Act, including definitions and self-regulation, and legislation promoting metaverse content.

To improve mobility convenience for socially vulnerable groups such as the elderly and disabled, commercial services of autonomous vehicles in urban parks will be allowed according to safety standards such as maximum speed. Autonomous driving robots will also be permitted to travel on sidewalks.

OTT providers will be able to provide timely content without difficulty by swiftly implementing the recently passed OTT content self-rating system in the National Assembly.

Park Yoon-kyu, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said at a briefing before the meeting, "Prohibitions on autonomous driving robot sidewalk travel and OTT prior review are regulations unique to Korea. We expect that by rationalizing these regulations, a system environment will be created where domestic companies can compete alongside global companies."

Establishment of Basic Plan for Data Industry Promotion within the Year

Next, the second agenda item, 'Establishment and Promotion Direction of the 1st Basic Plan for Data Industry Promotion,' was discussed.

Although the government has led the growth of the data market through public data opening, legal and institutional improvements, and financial investment, the utilization of data by the private sector and the industrial base remain weak. For example, according to the 2021 IMD survey, the big data adoption rate of Korean companies is only 16%, and the global big data utilization ranking is 26th, much lower than the digital competitiveness ranking of 12th.

The government will move away from a government-led approach and pursue proactive data opening, bold institutional innovation, and preemptive investment through public-private cooperation. The policy will focus on building the world's best data value chain. Vice Minister Park stated, "Since the users of data are the public and companies, it is necessary to actively reflect the voices of demanders in policy."

Specifically, the key goals are ▲ significantly expanding and fully opening high-quality data, ▲ establishing a distribution and trading ecosystem that the private sector can easily participate in, ▲ creating a data utilization foundation that is safe yet promotes innovation, and ▲ strengthening the foundational capabilities of the data industry, including companies, workforce, and technology.

The government plans to explore regulatory innovation, new institutional arrangements, and customized support measures needed by the private sector, and based on this, prepare and implement strategic tasks for the public and companies to lead data-based innovation and become leaders in the digital economy.

Based on these agenda items, the committee will have specialized subcommittees composed of related ministries and private experts cooperate to specify detailed promotion tasks, then establish and finalize the 1st Basic Plan for Data Industry Promotion within the year.

Vice Minister Park said, "Under the four goals, the government and private sector will work together to explore regulatory innovation, new institutional arrangements, and customized support measures needed by the market, and the public and data institutions will lead innovation to prepare concrete tasks and announce the first basic plan within the year."

Private members participating in the committee welcomed the government's active efforts to ease data and new industry regulations and promote related industries overall.

Seo Ha-yeon, Vice President of Data at Kakao and committee member, said, "In a situation where countries are waging a silent data hegemony war, now is the golden time for Korea to survive through regulatory reform," and requested, "The National Data Policy Committee should take the lead and swiftly push forward regulatory improvements."

Kim Tae-hoon, CEO of BankSalad and committee member, said, "I hope the future actions of the National Data Policy Committee will continuously expand private data utilization opportunities and that this regulatory improvement will be a full-fledged signal for companies to freely dream of data-based business innovation."

The committee will continuously strive to ensure the follow-up measures of this meeting are implemented without delay. In particular, through relay on-site meetings on digital national agendas, opinions from ICT companies and associations will be continuously collected, and through cooperation with related ministries, regulations hindering digital innovation will be continuously identified and improved. Also, experts from various fields will actively participate in policy proposals and formulation, and innovative ideas will be translated into practical policy execution through cooperation among private, public, and ministries.

Vice Minister Park said, "Since recognizing that data is a very important resource in the 4th Industrial Revolution, efforts have continued in both government and private sectors. Industrial utilization will become increasingly important beyond construction and opening, and the committee was launched to push this forward swiftly," adding, "Please see this as the official launch of the national data control tower, covering not only public data but also private data utilization and industrial growth."

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