Suwon to Shift Local Regulations to 'Comprehensive Negative Regulatory System'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City is promoting a 'shift in local ordinances to a comprehensive negative regulatory system.'

By the 8th of next month, the city plans to review all local ordinances (512 ordinances, 147 enforcement rules) to identify tasks for converting to a comprehensive negative regulatory system and establish improvement measures. When relevant departments identify regulatory conversion tasks, the legal affairs office will review them, consult with central government ministries, and proceed with improvements under a comprehensive negative regulatory system.

Negative regulation is the opposite concept of positive regulation, which follows the principle 'everything is prohibited except what is allowed.' Negative regulation states 'everything is allowed except what is prohibited.' It is an approach that permits activities first and applies post-regulatory measures when necessary.

Converting to a comprehensive negative regulatory system is at the core of regulatory innovation for new technologies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. It offers the advantage of being able to respond quickly to the needs of citizens and businesses.

On the 19th of last month, the government held the 89th State Affairs Inspection Meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon and confirmed a 'plan for converting local ordinances to comprehensive negative regulation.' The government expanded the scope of regulatory conversion, which had been limited to new industries, to the livelihood sector, and identified 142 tasks in three areas: regional industries, livelihood economy, and residents' living conditions. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to create standard ordinance models based on representative improvement cases and expand them to local governments nationwide. It will review applicability of the 142 provincial and municipal regulatory conversion tasks and proceed with improvements.

Yum Tae-young, Suwon Mayor, who attended the meeting as chair of the Korea Association of Mayors and Governors, said, "The Korea Association of Mayors and Governors will actively promote the shift of local ordinances to a negative regulatory system."

A city official stated, "Through this review, we will actively identify conversion tasks for comprehensive negative regulation," and added, "We will convert the regulatory system of local ordinances to respond promptly to requests from businesses and citizens."