When the government pushes legislation in the form of a lawmaker-sponsored bill, the Ministry of Government Legislation will proactively mediate differences even without a request from the relevant ministries.
The Ministry of Government Legislation said at its second-half work briefing held at the State Guest House at the Blue House on the 5th that it would minimize inter-ministerial disagreements at the legislative promotion stage using this method.
When the government pushes legislation, it can submit a bill directly to the National Assembly or have a lawmaker introduce a government-drafted bill. If the government submits a bill directly, it must go through multiple procedures, including consultations with related agencies and the party-government, advance notice of legislation, and a Cabinet meeting resolution, which takes considerable time before the National Assembly acts.
If the government bill is introduced in the form of a lawmaker-sponsored bill, it can skip these procedures and move quickly. However, there was a problem in that the Ministry of Government Legislation could mediate differences only when requested by the relevant ministries.
The Ministry of Government Legislation will also monitor all bills introduced by lawmakers and will proactively carry out coordination through the Government Legislative Policy Council for bills where inter-ministerial disagreements are a concern.
The Ministry of Government Legislation reviewed 49 national agenda bills that were initially to be pursued by enacting new laws and decided to change 25 of them to amendments of existing laws. For example, instead of enacting the tentatively titled "After-school Support Special Act" to establish a legal basis for after-school programs, it decided to partially amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
On the 30th, a pan-government task force to rationalize criminal penalties, involving 17 ministries including the Ministry of Government Legislation, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, was launched. The task force plans to conduct a full review of 11,165 penal provisions and complete the overhaul within two years.
The Ministry of Government Legislation is conducting a full review of 3,496 administrative statutes to improve unreasonable regulations that inconvenience the public. As of July this year, it reviewed 2,910, and plans to complete the review by the end of the year. Of 552 tasks requiring improvement, such as subordinate regulations that exceed the scope delegated by superior laws, the ministry will carry out a batch amendment of the first 118 tasks and will overhaul the remainder sequentially.
In addition, by working with business groups, local governments, and academia to collect opinions on improving unreasonable rules, 96 improvement tasks that cause public inconvenience were identified. Of these, the overhaul will begin with the first 46 tasks for which inter-ministerial consultations have been completed.
One of them is the restriction on the location of business offices for online sales of medical devices. On the ground, this sector is currently interpreted as being allowed to have offices only in buildings for dwellings or in startup incubators, which is making it difficult for corporations to do business. A frontline public official proposed a legal improvement, and the Ministry of Government Legislation, after completing consultations with the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is preparing an overhaul plan to allow online sales of medical devices without restrictions on building use, as long as certain conditions are met.
The Ministry of Government Legislation, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Science and ICT, has been piloting the "AI Legal Assistant" service since the 14th. This follows President Lee Jae-myung saying at a Cabinet meeting on June 2 that "ministries should quickly use artificial intelligence for tasks of initially investigating, analyzing, and judging." The AI Legal Assistant provides a first-pass review of legal questions that arise during policy implementation and can be used by any public official.