Basic Report

Korea's economic situation is becoming difficult due to the worldwide recession and the consequent aftermath. It is time for regional-focused solutions to create jobs, revitalize the local economy and ease public discontent. At this point, the purpose of the study is to identify the causes of regulatory innovation at the regional level and to suggest alternatives.
   Theoretical discussions were identified as focusing on job creation through a conceptual definition of regional innovation growth. Based on this, the analysis frame was constructed around the central-local relationship(structure), the characteristics(function) of local governments, and the formation of consensus (environment) surrounding the policies established by the local government.
   In the current situation and problems section, first, insufficient details on the roles of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and local governments were identified from the legal and institutional aspects. On top of that, there were limitations in the role of local governments due to the attributes of ordinances that were expedited by higher laws. Second, from a systematic perspective, the results of the proposals to central government offices through the excavation of regulatory aberrations by local governments and the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs were not resolved and the accumulated items were identified. Third, from the operational point of view, regulations were discovered and managed by the administration, but deviations were occurring by region. Divided into local government chapters, 148.9 cases were found to be registered as local regulations on average. In particular, with the exception of some regions, the number of local regulatory registrations has been high in the province. The results of the analysis of the ordinance, which is the basis for the regulatory registration of local governments, showed that the violation of higher statutes (including deviations from the scope of the mandate, inconsistencies, etc.) accounted for a large proportion of the number of cases by major types. On top of this, problems such as audits that block active administration of government officials were added. According to a recent survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry(KCCI), the local government's regulation-related system has improved, but the service companies feel has not improved much. This is a recent survey by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, which is similar to what businesses feel in the excavation research.
   Case studies at home and abroad looked at cases of construction permits for Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and its member cities. Different standards were introduced in the same region, and the process of unifying them was introduced. However, we also looked at differences in legal interpretations, or regulatory deviations, in relation to today's shared economies, that create problems. Looking at the cases of the U.S. and Japan, we can see that they are suffering the same pain as us. The recent Trump administration's efforts to reform regulations, in addition to its efforts to maintain the total amount of regulations, is also making it mandatory for existing regulations to be abolished through assessment of existing regulations to create new jobs. Japan's case is similar to Korea's central-local relationship, but its expected performance is not seen. I think it is a case that clearly illustrates the problem of top-down policy implementation.
   The problems of local regulations for regional reform growth, and the results of surveys conducted by municipal and provincial government officials in charge of regulation on improvement measures, showed that the current regulatory reform has some effect, but has many improvements. On the institutional side, many said that local governments have little authority to reform themselves. On the structural side, many said that the procedures for implementing regulatory innovation are different and complex depending on the characteristics of regulations or related ministries, and that it would not be immediately reflected in local governments' ordinances if laws that set regulations at higher levels were enacted or abolished. On the operational front, it has been confirmed that many say they feel tired of the top-down deregulation drive that is repeated whenever the administration changes, and that they want to avoid situations in which local government officials should be audited for their active interpretation of laws and work, or take responsibility for the consequences regardless of their own efforts.
   Based on various aspects of the above review, the basic direction of the reform measures of local regulations for regional reform was to strengthen the bottom-up approach of easing regulations by connecting residents, media companies and themselves strongly to the network, to create a consensus that can be a driving force for continuous regulatory innovation by enhancing residents' level of sense, and to expand the regulatory infrastructure of the administration and local governments to support them
   The detailed plan is to facilitate central-local communication. To this end, regulatory fairness should be secured by mitigating regulatory deviation among local governments. In addition, the legal review system should be established so that central laws can be linked to ordinances in provincial areas and faithfully reflect the contents of higher statutes.
   Second, strengthening regulatory authority of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and local governments. To this end, the right to claim for regulatory improvement should be institutionalized. This is because the results of regulatory discovery by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and local governments are poor. Even the right to claim for improvement should be institutionalized to increase the capacity. It should also strengthen the practical functions of local regulatory innovation bodies. Since the department in charge of regulation is not a working-level department that executes local regulations, there must be a limit to knowing exactly what problems are caused by the various regulations. To solve these problems, it is necessary to give substantial authority to regulatory reform committees of local governments to strengthen their function of deliberating and expelling regulations. A central-local regulatory consultative body should be established and operated to promote regulatory innovation through continuous consultation and exchange of views.
   Third, devices should be prepared to improve the behavior of local government officials. First of all, the exemption system should be introduced for active administration. To this end, the enactment of the Basic Administrative Law, which corresponds to the basic manual, should be actively considered. This should be considered as a mechanism to prevent moral hazard.