Suwon City Regulatory Reform Citizen Satisfaction Survey Results: 'Central Government Must Delegate Authority to Local Governments'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Suh Dong-young] Citizens have expressed the opinion that to drive regional development through regulatory reform, authority must be transferred from the central government and autonomous legislative power should be strengthened.

Suwon City recently conducted a 2019 regulatory reform citizen satisfaction survey and released results including these findings.

The survey was conducted over one month from December 23 of last year to the 22nd of last month in the form of online and offline questionnaires targeting 302 businesses and citizens in the Suwon area regarding the regulatory authorities and areas for improvement.

Respondents cited the central government and related laws as the regulatory authorities having the greatest impact on citizens' lives and business activities.

In response to the question 'Who do you think is the regulatory authority?', the central government was the most common answer at 51%. This was followed by basic local governments at 21%, the National Assembly at 16%, and metropolitan local governments at 12%.

Additionally, in response to the question 'Do you believe local governments establish ordinances and regulations in consideration of citizens and businesses?', negative responses totaled 14%, with 9% answering no and 5% answering absolutely not. Among negative responses, 49% cited 'most decisions made by central government laws' as the reason.

Regarding what is most necessary to reform regulations, 'delegation of central government authority and strengthening of autonomous legislative power' was the most common answer at 36%. This was followed by 'prior professional analysis and evaluation' at 25%, 'active participation of citizens and businesses' at 23%, 'central government regulatory reform evaluation and differentiated budgeting' at 15%, and 'improvement of passive attitudes and mindsets among civil servants' at 3%.

For administrative regulatory improvement measures that require the most urgent attention, 80% of respondents cited 'unreasonable laws and autonomous legal regulations', with 'civil petition processing systems' following at 15%.

Regarding priority areas for regulatory reform, stabilization of ordinary people's livelihoods was ranked first at 52%.

This was followed by fostering self-employed and small business owners at 18%, improving business investment conditions at 12%, fostering new technologies, industries, and service sectors at 10%, and resolving customized corporate difficulties at 7%.

Based on these survey results, the city plans to focus on identifying and recommending improvements to regulatory reform tasks that are closely related to central laws or ordinary people's daily lives.

Additionally, the city will strengthen the operation of mobile regulatory reform reporting centers to resolve citizens' regulatory difficulties and implement training to enhance regulatory reform capabilities.

First Vice Mayor Cho Chung-sik stated, "Based on the survey results reflecting citizens' opinions, we will make greater efforts to boost the local economy by identifying and improving various unreasonable regulations to stabilize ordinary people's livelihoods and foster self-employed and small business owners."