Korea’s online petition system ‘Regulatory Reform Sinmungo’ allows general public to propose changes to the regulatory policies. (Regulatory Reform Sinmungo)
By Kim Young Shin
Korea ranked third to sixth in the assessments made in OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2018, published on Oct. 10. The ranks jumped up from the previous assessment in 2015, which was from ninth to 15th out of the 34 OECD members.
Korea was recognized for its improvement on the regulatory policy system through the opening of a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) to get public opinions, providing public officials with the data necessary for cost-benefit analysis via e-RIA and continuous effort to systematically reform regulations.
OECD scored primary laws and subordinate regulations separately on stakeholder engagement in developing regulations, RIA, and ex post evaluation of regulations.
For the stakeholder engagement, Korea’s primary laws ranked fourth and subordinate regulations sixth. The Office for Government Policy Coordination said, “Publishing RIA online for all new regulations and collecting opinions from the stakeholders has been highly regarded.”
In addition, operating the online petition system Regulatory Reform Sinmungo to allow suggestions from the general public, has also been recognized for its contributions to improvement.
For RIA, Korea’s primary laws ranked third and subordinate regulations fourth. For ex post evaluation of regulations, primary laws and subordinate regulations both scored third.
“Despite the high benefits in reforming the stock of regulation ex post evaluation systems are still rudimentary in most OECD countries and changes since 2014 are marginal on average,” said OECD. “Countries which undertook substantive reforms of their ex post evaluation systems over the last years include Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Korea and the United States.”
“We will proceed with regulatory reforms related to new industries, job creation and public welfare in a speedy manner,” said the Korean Office for Government Policy Coordination.