Changing BAI: 'Policy Audits' to Be Abolished Starting in the Second Half of the Year

Board of Audit and Inspection Announces "Direction for Improving Audit Operations to Revitalize the Public Sector"
To Be Applied Starting with This Year's Second Half Audit Plan on President Lee Jaemyung's Directive
Focus on Enhancing Policy Performance... Strengthened Support for Proactive Administration and Audit System Improvements

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) will abolish audits of policy decisions in order to prevent negative side effects such as the shrinking of the public sector due to excessive accountability. The BAI will also redefine the principles and system of audit operations to focus on enhancing the performance and efficiency of policies and projects. This measure is a follow-up to President Lee Jaemyung's directive at the chief aides' meeting on July 24, in which he requested, "Please ensure that hardworking public officials are never harassed or discouraged under the pretext of policy audits or investigations."

Yonhap News

On August 6, the BAI announced its new "Direction for Improving Audit Operations to Revitalize the Public Sector," which aims to allow public officials to focus on their core duties and work diligently without concerns or burdens about post-facto accountability.

First, the BAI will consistently apply the principle that issues arising during the process of implementing policies or projects will not result in disciplinary action unless there are serious problems such as pursuit of personal gain or provision of special favors. The BAI will also establish the principle that policy or project implementation, or the handling of official duties itself, will not be treated as a criminal offense such as abuse of authority. In addition, unless there are special reasons such as pursuit of personal gain, such cases will be excluded from requests for prosecution or investigation. Audits of policy decisions will also be abolished. The BAI intends to clearly codify the scope of "major policy decisions and the legitimacy of policy objectives," which are subject to official duty audits.

Furthermore, audits of the implementation of policies and projects will be improved to support innovation. The BAI plans to reestablish the basic audit principle as enhancing efficiency and effectiveness for better policy outcomes, rather than focusing on determining the right or wrong of public officials' actions. In particular, the BAI will expand the scope of innovation-supporting audits to include areas where failure is essential for future growth, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the defense industry, overseas resource development, and innovative finance. The BAI will support creative challenges by conducting consistent audits focused on problem-solving and proposing alternatives, rather than holding individuals accountable for failures.

The system to support proactive administration will also be significantly strengthened. To foster the discovery of future growth engines, the BAI will bolster preemptive and cooperative support so that it can share the risks public officials face in administrative practice, thereby encouraging more proactive administration. For new technologies and industries characterized by high uncertainty and complexity, the BAI will relax the requirements for exemption from liability in proactive administration, so that officials will not be held accountable if they follow "standard procedures." In addition, if public officials carry out their duties in accordance with the opinions of their agency's Proactive Administration Committee, they will be exempt from both BAI and internal audits. The pre-consulting system will also be expanded so that private associations serving the public interest can utilize it.

The BAI stated, "Starting with the audit plan for the second half of this year, we will specifically apply the newly announced audit operation direction to audit practices," adding, "We also plan to quickly implement institutional improvements by forming a task force (TF)."

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