'Pre-Consultation Audit'… Proactive Administration Shows Tangible Results

#Case 1=Department A was initially planning to install a civil defense experience education facility in temporary building form on the site of a youth training facility. However, the department determined that the project was not feasible to continue because the building permit for the site would expire in 2018, requiring continued renegotiation, and temporary structures require periodic permit renewal every three years.

Yet due to the 20 million won already invested in the project, the department could not stop the project. Department A approached Gyeonggi Province's newly introduced 'Pre-Consultation Audit System' designed to support proactive administration.

Gyeonggi Province advised Department A through pre-consultation audit that if the youth training facility proceeds as originally intended for the site, the civil defense experience education facility would need to be demolished anyway. Therefore, it would be better to save the remaining 500 million won in budget even if the 20 million won already invested is lost. Following this consultation audit opinion, Department A boldly suspended the project.

#Case 2=Private arboretum B in the province attempted to install damage prevention fencing to protect trees from harmful animals such as wild boars and roe deer. However, lacking suitable land, it applied to the Korea Forest Service to lease national forest land.

The Korea Forest Service, however, gave a passive legal interpretation, stating that since the arboretum had not received initial development plan approval, it would need to obtain such approval to lease the land, and declined to provide the land.

Through pre-consultation audit, Gyeonggi Province issued an audit opinion stating that 'since the facility is already registered as an arboretum without development plan approval, there is no need to obtain development plan approval, and if there are no special restrictions in the relevant laws and regulations, change registration with a lease condition is possible.' The Korea Forest Service accepted this opinion, and arboretum B was able to install the damage prevention fencing.

The Pre-Consultation Audit System introduced by Gyeonggi Province on April 28 has proven to be greatly beneficial to proactive administration by frontline civil servants.

The Pre-Consultation Audit System was introduced to move away from audit practices focused on detecting violations and to help civil servants reduce audit burden and engage in proactive administration before problems occur, thereby activating proactive administration.

According to the province on the 18th, inquiries have continued from various departments in the province and municipal governments. Among these, 13 cases have been submitted to the Pre-Consultation Audit, 6 have been completed, and 7 are under processing.

The province plans to activate the Pre-Consultation Audit System by holding 'Gyeonggi Province Proactive Administration Support Policy Roadshow Briefings' from July to December so that the Pre-Consultation Audit System can be easily understood and actively utilized.

A provincial official stated, "Despite being in the early stages of the system's introduction, inquiries from Gyeonggi Province departments and municipal governments continue without interruption, and frontline civil servants are welcoming the paradigm shift from detection-oriented to consultation-oriented audits. Going forward, we will expand the Pre-Consultation Audit system further to increase citizens' satisfaction with administration."