Active Public Officials Protected from Unjust Blame... Introduction of Immunity Officers Expands

Will Fear of Punishment Reduce Inefficient Public Officials?
Yongsan-gu and Seodaemun-gu Establish New Immunity Protection Officers

Several years ago, three local government officials faced disciplinary demands from a metropolitan local government while facilitating the establishment of a medical laundry factory in a dyeing industrial complex. Although wastewater treatment was essential, it was difficult for the medical laundry factory to have its own facilities, so it was placed in the dyeing industrial complex equipped with a wastewater treatment plant. However, according to the local government notice, laundry factories were not allowed to be established in that dyeing industrial complex. The three officials came close to being disciplined but were ultimately exempted from punishment as a case of proactive administration for the public interest.

More local governments are introducing the "Exemption Protection Officer" system to protect officials who engage in proactive administration from disadvantages. On the 7th, Yongsan-gu in Seoul announced that it would introduce the proactive administration exemption protection officer system starting in the second half of this year. The proactive administration exemption protection officer helps protect the rights of officials who face audits from the Board of Audit and Inspection or higher authorities while carrying out proactive administration. This role is similar to an in-house lawyer in a private company assisting employees involved in lawsuits during legitimate work.

The audit officer at Yongsan-gu Office will serve as the exemption protection officer. The exemption protection officer provides consultation on exemption procedures, reviews exemption materials for examination, attends exemption hearings, and offers legal information support. Since 2020, Yongsan-gu has been supporting proactive administration officials by selecting outstanding proactive officials annually and awarding proactive administration mileage. However, the exemption protection officer is different from rewards, as it focuses on protecting officials so they can work with peace of mind.

Park Hee-young, the mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, "The hesitation to become a working official is largely due to the burden of audits," adding, "Now, I hope our officials can trust the proactive administration exemption protection officer and carry out creative and proactive administration for the residents."

Other local governments such as Gangdong-gu and Seodaemun-gu have introduced similar systems around the same time. Gangdong-gu announced last month that it is activating the Proactive Administration Support Committee, a deliberative body for promoting proactive administration, and selecting outstanding proactive officials to provide personnel incentives. It also plans to strengthen protection and support for related officials by implementing legal support and exemption systems related to proactive administration. Conversely, it will also conduct regular inspections to prevent passive administration and take measures and provide education according to types if passive administration is identified. It has also designated high-resident-impact issues such as the "Early Childhood Adaptation Together Value Pilot Project" as key proactive administration promotion tasks and announced them.

Seodaemun-gu also introduced the exemption protection officer system earlier last month. Under this system, it provides post-protection and consultation for work acts without intentional or gross negligence, as well as pre-consulting to offer opinions on decision-making and processing directions.

Although support for proactive administration exemption for officials is not a newly created system, the threshold for application is gradually lowering, and support is strengthening. Since last year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has introduced a comprehensive evaluation of proactive administration for 243 local governments and provides financial incentives to outstanding local governments. Since the Personnel Innovation Office established the "Proactive Administration Operation Regulations" in August 2019, local governments have been revising autonomous regulations such as proactive administration operation ordinances and operating systems for proactive administration pre-consultation and exemption.

However, there is still a gap with reality. An official from a district office said, "Since the ordinance was enacted in September 2020 and the system was introduced, there has not been a single case where a district office official requested proactive administration exemption support."

Park Ju-bong, the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman who has consistently advocated for regulatory improvements for SMEs, has long argued for "proactive administration exemption." He said that since concerns about being disadvantaged by audits from the Board of Audit and Inspection are widespread among officials, in order to solve such problems, officials who actively work and cause minor accidents should be boldly exempted from punishment.

Ombudsman Park said, "Even if the proactive administration exemption system exists, officials do not actually engage in proactive administration because they fear disadvantages from audits by the Board of Audit and Inspection," adding, "For minor matters, the Audit Act should explicitly state that audits will be guidance-oriented rather than punishment-oriented." Article 34 of the Audit Act stipulates exemption for proactive administration, and the detailed contents are determined by the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit business handling regulations.

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