"Law Proposed by Korean Lawmakers 78.9 Times More Than in the UK... Excessive Legislation Creates Excessive Regulation"

Forum on Korea Industrial Alliance Forum Held
"Policy Efforts Needed to Prevent Overlegislation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] A policy recommendation has been made that the National Assembly should improve the quality of legislation through measures such as conducting regulatory impact assessments, rather than engaging in excessive legislative competition driven by public opinion. This is because indiscriminate member-initiated legislation has led to the proliferation of excessive regulations like the amendment bills to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (commonly known as the Yellow Envelope Act), which negatively affect the economy. To overcome this, it is pointed out that sufficient research, deliberation, and discussion should be prioritized over quantitative evaluation of legislation.

The Korea Industrial Alliance Forum (KIAF) held the 30th Industrial Development Forum online on the 23rd under the theme "Legislative System Improvement Measures to Strengthen National Competitiveness," conveying these views. KIAF is an organization formed by 15 industry groups.

In his greeting, KIAF Chairman Manki Jeong said, "The ruling and opposition floor leaders have unanimously called for a 'working National Assembly,' but in reality, the National Assembly is creating a difficult environment for businesses by overusing regulations," adding, "Members of both parties should exercise their legislative power prudently to improve the quality of life for the people and reignite growth engines for the future."

Jeong Gwangha, Director of the Future Industry Research Institute affiliated with KIAF, introduced in his keynote presentation that "the number of member-initiated bills in the first half of the 21st National Assembly was 14,144, which is 28.8 times that of government-initiated bills and a 17.3% increase compared to the first half of the 20th National Assembly."

According to Director Jeong, over the past four years, the number of member-initiated bills was 35.7 times that of the United Kingdom and 53.5 times that of Japan, while the number of bills initiated per member was 78.9 times that of the UK and 131.5 times that of Japan. Particularly, in the 20th National Assembly, 14,986 member-initiated bills were discarded due to reasons such as rejection, expiration of term, or withdrawal, leading to criticism of overlapping and poor-quality excessive legislation.

Director Jeong pointed out, "Excessive legislation results in poor bill deliberation, with the number of bills reviewed per member being 81.9, which is 68.3 times that of the UK and 87.9 times that of Japan. The average number of bills passed per day in plenary sessions was 47.8, which is 34.1 times that of the US and 239.0 times that of the UK," adding, "The time spent reviewing each bill in the legislative review subcommittee was only 13 minutes."

He continued, "In the 20th National Assembly, 3,924 bills containing regulations were initiated by members, of which 203 were enacted or amended into law," explaining, "Excessive regulations are being produced, lowering national competitiveness and causing inconvenience to citizens' daily lives."

As measures to prevent excessive legislation, Director Jeong proposed ▲ restoring the minimum number of supporting members for member-initiated legislation from 10 (since 2003) back to 20 ▲ establishing a ‘Regulatory Legislation Policy Office’ within the National Assembly to conduct regulatory impact assessments ▲ introducing a ‘Legislative Impact Analysis System’ similar to those in the US and UK ▲ shifting the evaluation of members from quantitative metrics such as the number of bills initiated by the media and civic groups to qualitative assessments including pre- and post-effects of legislation.

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