33.8% of First-Half 22nd Assembly Bills Are Regulatory... Jung Taeho, Kim Seungwon, Kim Sohee, Choi Boyoon, Park Chungkwon Win Good Regulation Awards

Announcement of the Winners of the 1st Republic of Korea Good Regulation Legislation Award

An analysis has revealed that 33.8% of the bills submitted during the first half of the 22nd National Assembly were regulatory bills. Lawmakers Kim Seungwon and Jung Taeho from the Democratic Party, as well as Kim Sohui, Park Chungkwon, and Choi Boyoon from the People Power Party, were recognized for introducing positive legislation related to regulation and are set to receive the 'Good Regulation Legislation Award.'

According to the Good Regulation Civil Forum (hereinafter referred to as the forum), which announced the winners of the "1st Republic of Korea Good Regulation Legislation Award" on July 28, a comprehensive monitoring of all 17,311 bills introduced during the first half of the 22nd National Assembly (from May 30, 2024, to May 31, 2026) found that 5,852 of them were classified as regulatory bills. This means that, on average, 56 regulatory bills were submitted each week. The results of this survey were produced through a rigorous multi-stage evaluation process, including the forum's own AI analysis, in-depth expert panel review, and Delphi analysis.

Although there was a flood of regulatory bills, some bills received positive evaluations. The forum selected five outstanding bills and the lawmakers who introduced them as recipients of the 'Republic of Korea Good Regulation Legislation Award.'

Lawmaker Kim Sohui was recognized for introducing an amendment to the National Assembly Act that mandates the submission of regulatory impact statements in the case of legislative bills initiated by lawmakers, where regulatory review is relatively weak. This provided a rational management foundation to thoroughly assess the validity of regulatory bills.

Lawmaker Kim Seungwon was awarded for proposing the “Subcontracting Transaction Fairness Act,” which shifts the focus of sanctions from criminal punishment that previously created many offenders for minor violations to administrative sanctions such as fines. The proportionality of regulation was thus ensured, which was noted as the reason for the recognition.

Lawmaker Park Chungkwon received high marks for introducing the “Act on the Repeal of the Distribution Structure Improvement Act for Mobile Communication Devices,” which seeks to abolish the so-called “Dantong Act.” This was evaluated positively for promoting market competition and enhancing consumer welfare.

Lawmaker Jung Taeho was praised for proposing the “Special Act on Exceptions and Adjustments for Regulations on New Industries and New Technologies,” which establishes a control tower by centralizing the management of regulatory sandboxes—formerly fragmented under eight different ministries—under the Office for Government Policy Coordination, thereby enabling swift regulatory reforms.

Lawmaker Choi Boyoon was positively assessed for proposing an amendment to the Medical Service Act that establishes a permanent legal basis for telemedicine—which had been temporarily permitted—and sets standards for managing online medical platform intermediaries, thereby enhancing public convenience and fostering the development of new medical industries.

Lee Hyuku, Chair of the Regulation Monitoring Committee at the Good Regulation Civil Forum (professor at Pai Chai University), stated, “The announcement of these monitoring results and the presentation of the legislation awards are meant to sound the alarm over the National Assembly’s indiscriminate legislative activity and promote qualitative improvement of bills. Going forward, we will continue to rigorously oversee the accountability of lawmakers regarding regulatory legislation based on the Real-Name Legislation System and help foster a rational legislative culture.” The “Real-Name Legislation System” is a system whereby the title of a bill is linked to the name of its primary sponsor, increasing the accountability of lawmakers, encouraging prudence in submitting bills, and calling on lawmakers to demonstrate the necessity and effectiveness of their bills through ongoing public debate.

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