ACRC Issuing the Most Recommendations for Improvements in Prevention of Abuse of Discretion Among Draft/Revised Laws and Regulations of Central Administrative Agencies

Last year, ACRC conducted the Corruption Risk Assessment on 1,409 draft/revised laws and regulations, identifying 324 corruption-causing factors and issuing recommendations for improvements

(Feb. 9^th 2023, ACRC)

According to the result of the Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA)* conducted last year on draft/revised laws and regulations in jurisdiction of central administrative agencies, recommendations for institutional improvements related to prevention of abuse of discretion accounted for 43.2%.

*the Corruption Risk Assessment is a primary corruption control system aimed at preemptively eliminating corruption risks in the course of implementation of laws and regulations by analyzing, identifying, removing, and improving corruption-causing factors inherent in those laws and regulations from the very stage of drafting thereof

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Jeon Hyun-Heui) carried out the CRA on 1,409 draft/revised laws and regulations, and identified 324 corruption-causing factors out of 136 laws and regulations in relation to which it issued recommendations for institutional recommendations.

The CRA result has revealed that among the 324 factors identified, the number of regulations with a risk for the abuse of discretion by administrative agencies due to lack of concreteness and objectivity amounted to 140 cases (43.2%), followed by those with low predictability of administration (63 cases, 19.5%) and likelihood of conflicts of interest (55 cases, 17%), etc.

The number of laws and regulations subject to the CRA has decreased by 14.3%p compared to 2019 (by 20.1%p year on year), however, the rate of recommendations issued this year has increased by 12.7%p (the same as that of previous year). Besides, it took the shortest time for the ACRC to complete the CRA since the introduction of the system in 2006, 7.3 days on average.

As for the major recommendations, the ACRC has recommended administrative agencies that they add more specificities to their ambiguous regulations which provide that the matters necessary for imposing administrative fines on violations of a duty to publicly announce the conditions for charging a subcontract price, etc. should be determined by the administrative agencies, thereby removing room for the abuse of discretion of the administrative agencies.

The ACRC has also strengthened protection of whistleblowers by recommending the agencies to include statements related to reports and filing of relevant s in the scope of acts subject to prohibition of disadvantageous measures to protect corruption reporters and public interest whistleblowers.

In addition, the ACRC has had the agencies specify the scope of exclusion/recusal/avoidance for the members of their investigation committees to guarantee fairness in investigation of research irregularities in order to prevent conflicts of interest and increase the participation rate of external members.

On top of these, the recommendations for improvements included: stipulation of a qualification standard for compatriots with foreign nationality for working visit in the upper laws and regulations, rather than in the internal manual of the agencies (improving administrative transparency); public announcement of information on the caregiver qualification test on official websites of the agencies (securing administrative openness); and giving those presenting a specimen copy of library resources a prior notice of compensation claim (preventing passive administration and guaranteeing civil rights to claim).

The ACRC Vice-Chairperson Ahn Sung Wook said, “The ACRC has been striving to prevent corruption in the public sector through the CRA to date, and our assessment capacity for this year will be more focused on laws and regulations that substantially affect the public livelihood so that unfair or irrational laws and regulations do not infringe upon civil rights and interests.”