Seoul City Launches 'Regulatory Innovation 365 Project'... Upgrading from Declarative Abolition

[Financial News] Seoul City is upgrading the 'Regulatory Abolition' proposed as this year's administrative theme to a continuous 'Regulatory Innovation' for 365 days. Following the abolition of a total of 138 regulations since January, the plan is to implant the DNA of regulatory innovation throughout the entire Seoul administration. By collecting opinions from citizens and various organizations, tasks will be identified, and regulations with high tangible impact will be prioritized for innovation after verification by an expert review panel. In industries directly related to people's livelihoods, a 'sandbox' to relax regulations is also planned to be introduced.
Seoul City announced the 'Regulatory Innovation 365 Project' containing these details on the 20th. The city explained, "We are determined to boldly and continuously abolish regulations that hinder corporate economic activities and cause inconvenience to citizens' lives throughout the year."
A systematic regulatory discovery system in which citizens and various professional organizations directly participate will be established and operated continuously. The plan is to increase private participation from the previously administration-led intensive operation methods such as the '100-Day Intensive Regulatory Abolition Promotion Period' and the 'Citizen Debate on Easing Regulations to Revive Livelihoods'.
Starting in September, the operation of a 'Regulatory Discovery Group' composed of 200 citizens from various fields will begin. Proposals from the Regulatory Discovery Group will be promptly reviewed by related departments and experts, and feasible matters will be quickly reflected in policy.
Regular meetings will also be held with about 200 professional organizations such as the Korea Institute of Architects and the Small Business Association. A 'Professional Organization Regulatory Innovation Hotline', a channel for continuously collecting opinions, is also planned to be established.
Data from frequently and repeatedly received complaints through the 120 Dasan Call Center and the Seoul City Response Center will be analyzed, and issues arising from unnecessary regulations will be proactively addressed. Received complaints will be categorized by keyword types such as 'delayed processing', 'ambiguous guidelines', 'unclear regulations', and 'excessive review' to minimize regulatory blind spots.
In addition, a full investigation of 772 regulations registered in Seoul City's autonomous regulations is planned for review. Unnecessary or excessive regulations will be abolished or simplified, and some regulations will be converted to a negative regulation method that 'allows in principle but prohibits only exceptionally', opening up various possibilities.
The discovered regulatory improvement tasks will go through a three-stage procedure of △selection and concretization △departmental review and stakeholder consultation △expert review to finalize the innovation plan. When experts such as the Regulatory Innovation Planning Officer and the Seoul Institute concretize the agenda, consultations between related departments and stakeholders will be conducted. Finally, the Regulatory General Manager, newly established last July, will review and prepare the innovation plan with the expert regulatory advisory review panel of four divisions.
The achievements of regulatory innovation will be controlled in an integrated manner by establishing a 'Regulatory Management Online Platform'. It will prevent the setting of similar or duplicate regulations and continuously check the implementation rate to prevent delays. Completed tasks will be disclosed to the public through the Seoul City website.
In particular, to ensure the sustainability of regulatory innovation achievements, the legal and institutional foundation supporting them will also be strengthened. For industries important to economic growth, the 'Seoul-style Livelihood Regulation Sandbox' will be introduced to flexibly apply regulations through experimental exceptions.
To systematically review, select, and improve unreasonable regulations, a 'Seoul-style Regulatory Innovation Checklist' containing specific review criteria and manuals will also be developed. It will be used for preliminary evaluation and review for regulatory improvement.
Oh Se-hoon, the Mayor of Seoul, said, "Outdated and rigid regulations make citizens' daily lives inconvenient and hinder corporate challenges, ultimately acting as shackles that restrict Seoul's future," adding, "Now, easing regulations is the way to revive the economy and improve citizens' lives."
He continued, "We will apply regulatory innovation to Seoul's administration 365 days a year to develop it into a virtuous cycle model that leads to substantial changes in citizens' lives and the development of Seoul."

chlee1@fnnews.com Lee Chang-hoon Reporter