Korean business lobby groups urge swift legislative action on regulatory reforms

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South Korea’s business circle is calling on lawmakers to expedite the passage of several regulatory reform bills pending in the National Assembly.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) announced Thursday that it submitted a recommendation to the National Assembly, calling for the swift handling of various pending regulatory reform bills.

The comprehensive document encompasses 97 bills across five subject categories – land (6 bills), environment (6 bills), labor (11 bills), new industries (32 bills), and market entry (42 bills).

There are a slew of bills pending in the National Assembly, including a bill to relax the chemical registration standards stipulated in K-Reach and the CCA, a bill to allow foreigners to work for a longer period of time, and a bill to ease regulations on occupancy and leasing of industrial complexes.

The KCCI’s recommendation list also includes bills related to new industries, such as legislation to legalize unmanned delivery services, expand the scope of autonomous passenger car transportation businesses, and reduce rental fees for hydrogen charging stations.

The Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) plans to deliver its legislative priorities for lawmakers during the regular session.

The KEF analyzed that out of the 255 employment and labor-related bills handled by the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee from May 2020 to August 2023, only 23 supported business activities.

The KEF’s six selected legislative priorities aim to enhance labor market flexibility, establish a rational and balanced labor-management relationship, improve taxation for national competitiveness, boost economic vitality through regulatory reform, minimize confusion caused by the implementation of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, and develop a plan for improving the social insurance system.

As a special recommendation, the KEF proposed a reconsideration of the legislative progress of the revision to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union and Labor Dispute Mediation Act, known as the “Yellow Envelope Act.”

This amendment is currently pending in the plenary session of the National Assembly and aims to broaden the concept of labor disputes and limits a company’s ability to claim damages against striking workers.

During a Thursday policy forum organized by the KCCI and hosted by Representative Kim Hee-gon from the People Power Party, an expert argued for the abolishment of the “same person designation” rule, which obligates conglomerates with assets exceeding 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) to designate the business group’s chief responsible for submitting various reports and data to prevent profit pocketing.

“Since there is no reasonable basis for the “same person designation” rule today, it should be abolished,” said Ju Jin-yul, a law professor at Pusan National University, asserting that the community should first debate the validity of the conglomerate regulation system itself.