Cut Red Tape
In the smart car market, in where not only existing automakers but also ICT companies including Google and Apple get in on the race to survive beyond the borders and industrial areas, Korean companies are likely to be in the isolation. Currently, domestically developed driverless cars cannot operate in other countries and the cars which are developed abroad, cannot operate in Korea. This is because they have different frequency band of “V2X,” which is the driverless vehicles’ core technology that change information between cars. Currenly, broadcasting vehicles are using the 5.9-GHz bandwidth in Korea, which is the international standard frequency band of V2X. As the country failed to appoint its bandwidth due to the opposition of the communications industry, Korea needs to develop driverless cars for export and domestic market separately.
According to the National Academy Engineering of Korea (NAEK) on June 29, thousands of technology regulations are being implemented through numerous laws and ordinance of local governments, and it hinders Korea nurturing a new innovative industry and growing the market.
Accordingly, it is common for domestic companies to lose an opportunity for new growth and fall behind by missing the chance to enter the market at the right time. Also, the energy storage system (ESS) industry, which improves energy efficiency by storing power generated and supplying it when needed, is also highly likely to lag behind in the global market due to complex regulations and antiquated laws in the country. In Dec. last year, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) revised the Electrical Installation Standards and defined electricity storage mean as “power plant that supplies electricity.” However, its legal position is insignificant in other relevant laws. According to the related statute, emergency power generators are only limited to diesel generators and gas turbine generators. Therefore, the ESS cannot be used. This is in sharp contrast to the U.S., which defines the ESS in order to provide a wide range of functions. When limiting functions of the ESS, there will be restrictions on installation and operation so it is hardly adopted on the spot.
According to an analysis by the Regulatory Reform Committee for Industry Development formed by the NAEK, there is a total of 4,463 laws related to domestic technical regulations, including 1,643 legislations, 982 enforcement ordinances and 1,838 enforcement regulations. Also, there is more technical regulation systems in regulations of government’s departments and ordinances of local governments. However, there are no statistics and management systems regarding this. In the steel and chemical industry, regulations via “external impact assessment” are far reaching. Also, the medical care system which limits the use of medical information outside the hospital is considered a representative regulation on technology. It added that regulations on construction contracts need to be reformed as well since they make avoiding the use of new technology on a construction site.
The NAEK said, “The government’s regulation reforms are mostly on general administrative regulations so there are many technical regulations reforms, which the industry demands, excluded. As the industry cannot quickly deal with the changing global market environment due to technical regulations, the government should activate the regulation holiday system for technical innovation and improve the system of the legislation introduced by a member of an assembly which mass produces regulations.