Hankyung Association Proposes Temporary Suspension of 59 Cases Including 'Regulations Introduced Before Technology Development'

'Improvement Tasks Below Enforcement Decree' Delivered to the Office for Government Policy Coordination
Interfloor Noise, Unmanned Ships, 'Just Don't Do It' Regulations, etc.

The Korea Economic Association (KEA) announced on the 29th that it has proposed the "temporary suspension" of 59 regulations that act as obstacles to corporate development and investment to the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

KEA conducted a survey on regulatory difficulties among its member companies in response to a request from the Office for Government Policy Coordination to identify regulatory improvement tasks at the level of enforcement ordinances or lower that each ministry can promptly address. Based on this, KEA categorized the regulations that "hamper businesses" into four major types.

Seoul Yeouido FKI Tower Korea Economic Association Plaque. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

First, KEA stated that regulations introduced before the development of technology need to be improved. As a representative example, it pointed to the "Measures to Resolve Noise Between Floors in Apartment Complexes" announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last month. This regulation mandates construction companies to perform supplementary construction until the noise standards between floors are met and prohibits granting completion approval if the standards are not met. Regarding this, KEA said, "In reality, companies do not have construction methods or technologies that meet the strengthened standards," and requested, "If completion approval is withheld, companies could suffer enormous compensation damages, so please suspend the regulation until noise prevention and supplementary technologies that meet the standards are developed and commercialized."

KEA also identified regulations that hinder businesses because existing laws and systems do not reflect technological and industrial development or trends of convergence between industries. For example, it pointed out the "mandatory crew boarding" regulation applied to manned vessels. Applying this regulation to unmanned vessels capable of autonomous navigation makes demonstration operations difficult and could hinder the development of related technologies. Therefore, KEA proposed measures such as establishing special exceptions for personnel operation to facilitate the demonstration of autonomous vessels.

KEA included so-called "just don't do it regulations" that block companies from entering new businesses or expanding service investments as targets for improvement. In this regard, it cited the case where insurance company subsidiaries cannot provide "total healthcare services" that introduce hospitals or doctors to customers. The current Medical Service Act prohibits the introduction, mediation, or inducement of medical institutions or medical personnel for profit purposes.

Furthermore, KEA requested improvements to regulations that impose excessively burdensome administrative standards that are difficult for companies to comply with or impose unnecessary compliance obligations through administrative procedures that are more severe than the regulatory purpose.

Lee Sang-ho, Head of the Economic and Industrial Headquarters at KEA, emphasized, "Since regulations below the level of administrative rules have a significant impact on companies as much as laws and ordinances, it is necessary for the Office for Government Policy Coordination to take the lead in actively improving unreasonable field regulations applied at the forefront of businesses."

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