Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Establish Standard Freight Rate Guidelines for Container and Cement Items

No Discussion Yet in the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee
Need to Minimize Legislative Gaps

To minimize the legislative gap caused by the delay in the introduction of the standard freight rate system, the government has decided to first establish standard freight rate guidelines for container and cement items.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 5th, after last year's collective transport refusal by the Cargo Solidarity, the government has been persuading the National Assembly and stakeholders for the introduction of the standard freight rate system and reform of the jib-in system, but the related bills were not even discussed at the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee (Transportation Subcommittee) held that day.

In particular, after the safety freight rate system expired in December last year, the government tried to introduce the standard freight rate system to increase market autonomy and guarantee the income of truck owners, but since the bill was not passed, there is currently no freight rate standard.

Accordingly, the government plans to continuously promote the legislation of the standard freight rate system but will first prepare standard freight rate guidelines for container and cement items for market reference to minimize the legislative gap.

The safety freight rate system guarantees a minimum transportation fee to truck owners to prevent overwork and speeding, and imposes a fine of 5 million KRW on consignors (cargo transport commissioning companies) who pay less than that. On the other hand, the newly introduced standard freight rate system enforces the freight paid by the carrier to the truck owner (driver) to be the same, but allows the freight paid by the consignor to the carrier to be flexible. The consignor does not bear legal responsibility for cargo transport accidents.

The government also plans to revise related subordinate laws and regulations (Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Freight Motor Vehicle Transport Business Act) to protect truck owners from the abuses of the jib-in system.

Furthermore, to encourage carriers who are only interested in rent-seeking behavior (collecting jib-in fees) to work diligently, sanctions against carriers who violate minimum transportation obligations or fail to report transportation performance will be strengthened.

Meanwhile, to guarantee the ownership of vehicles to truck owners, the government will revise related systems so that the registration of jib-in vehicles is under the truck owners' names. This is a post-measure to minimize unfair practices such as unreasonable stamping fee demands by carriers due to delays in legal amendments, by codifying such unfair acts in subordinate laws and establishing sanction provisions for violations.

In addition, unfair acts by carriers received during the second jib-in reporting period following the first jib-in report will be investigated and punished in cooperation with related agencies such as the National Tax Service, the National Police Agency, and local governments. Moreover, on-site inspections will be intensively conducted on major violations such as illegal vehicle increases and other illegal or unfair acts.

Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "This measure is a government-level plan to improve the rights and interests of truck owners as soon as possible amid delays in legal amendments. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport expects the National Assembly to promptly reconsider the related bills and plans to actively cooperate in the legislative discussion process going forward."

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