Regulation Cost-in Cost-out Plan in Testing

Eight ministries of the Korean government, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, kicked off a test of the regulation cost-in cost-out system, which is scheduled to be put in place as the center of its deregulation policy.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced on July 20 that it recently distributed the operation plan and manual to the ministries, and the result of the test operation will be made public in December.

The regulation cost-in cost-out system’s purpose is to maintain the total cost of regulation at a constant level by removing existing ones when adding new ones. It covers every administrative regulation across all fields of society, although the main target is deregulation in the corporate sector.

Between July and August, the system is applied to exemplary cases among those reviewed by the Regulatory Reform Committees, and the scope is going to be extended to all cases from September. Still, cases directly related to the safety of the general public, natural environments and social benefit enhancement are excluded from the application.

The finalized plans are available on the official websites of the ministries and the government’s regulation information portal from December. The Prime Minister’s Office collected opinions from the Korea Development Institute and the academic and business circles with regard to the establishment of the plan.