Suwon's Regulatory Reform Achievements Published in Book

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City (Mayor Yom Tae-young) has published a case collection titled "1,825 Days of Regulatory Reform Footprints" documenting regulatory improvement achievements from 2014 to 2019.

The case collection contains 70 cases (35 each) of improvements to national laws and local ordinances based on Suwon City's proposals, as well as regulatory reform activities.

The city established a regulatory reform task force in April 2014 to begin comprehensive regulatory improvement efforts. In August of that year, it newly created a regulatory reform team to address regulations that caused inconvenience to citizens and business activities.

A prime example is the Hwaseong Tourist Train (Hwaseong-eo Car). Even in 2015, the Hwaseong tourist train was registered as an amusement facility under the Tourism Promotion Act and could not operate on regular roads in the city. The city analyzed domestic and international cases and proposed a special automobile exception to the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to allow the Hwaseong tourist train to operate on regular roads. Eventually, in November 2015, the city received approval for a special exception to automobile safety standards, enabling regular road operation as it exists today.

Other examples include ▲easing the "average water demand" standard in water supply regulations ▲expanding nighttime and weekend access to public facilities ▲lifting business type restrictions by block in Suwon Deltaflexes (Suwon General Industrial Complex).

The city has held 21 "regulatory reform field visit discussion forums" chaired by the First Vice Mayor, listening to various regulations and difficulties that businesses and citizens find burdensome and seeking improvement measures. Additionally, the city is conducting "visiting regulatory reform consultations" for small and medium-sized enterprises, visiting 43 companies last year and 22 companies through August this year.

The city's regulatory reform achievements have been externally recognized. Over the past four years, it has won eight awards, including the grand prize in Gyeonggi Province's municipal and county regulatory reform performance evaluation in 2015, excellence in the Gyeonggi Province regulatory reform promotion performance evaluation in 2016, excellence in the Gyeonggi Province regulatory breakthrough competition in 2018, and certification as an outstanding local regulatory innovation institution by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in 2018.

Mayor Yom Tae-young stated in the preface, "We have continuously listened to citizens and business owners' opinions and worked toward regulatory improvement," and added, "I hope that '1,825 Days of Regulatory Reform Footprints' will serve as a guide pointing the direction for regulatory reform to move forward."