Bill proposals and excess regulation

Main opposition Democratic Party Rep. Shin Hak-yong proposed a retail industry development revision bill in May on behalf of his party. The main content was to designate election days as mandatory holiday for large retail stores for non-regular employees working there. No industry in Korea has a legal mandatory holiday system for election days. A retail industry source said, "We have a flexible work system that allows employees vote on election days," adding, "I understand the point of wanting to guarantee voting rights, but mandating store closing on election day is not only an excess regulation but also an infringement on customer`s rights."

President Park Geun-hye at a trade and investment promotion meeting held last Wednesday said, "The devil is in the details. The good purpose (of a law) should not burden on companies."

The Dong-A Ilbo requested the Federation of Korea Industries on Wednesday to analyze 995 economic bills proposed between end-May last year when the 19th National Assembly launched and end-August this year. The analysis results showed a considerable number of bills containing extreme regulations. Korea Chamber of Commerce Chairman Park Yong-man (Doosan Group chairman) at a economic businessmen meeting with President Park on August 28 said, "There are so many (economic) legislations that companies don`t even know which law is relevant to them."

According to the latest analysis, the number of "regulation reinforcement" bills reached 463, accounting for 46.5 percent of all bills. Bills for economic invigoration numbered 176, accounting for 17.6 percent. Deregulation bills took up 11.1 percent, and bills for economic democratization including large and smaller company issues took up 9 percent.

The National Policy Committee, which had been engaged in a heated debate on corporate governance issue, proposed the biggest number of bills. Among the committee`s 201 economic bills, 112 (55.7 percent) were related to regulation strengthening. The Environment and Labor Committee, where disputes heated on chemical materials registration and evaluation law, had 151 (50.6 percent) and Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee proposed 144 (44.7 percent).

Yoo Hwan-ik, industry director at the Federation of Korean Industries, said, "Since the impact of laws on the public`s livelihood and corporate activities is huge, a careful legislation is needed after considering opinions of various interested parties and the impact on the national economy."