Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Public Holidays

Proposed by Rep. Yoo Gyeong-joon (People Power Party)

● The existing law does not specify a deadline for announcing the designation of substitute holidays, which has caused difficulties for people to plan for the holidays. Therefore, this amendment requires the government to designate substitute holidays at least two months (60 days) in advance except in cases where it is "unpredictable."

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Clean Air Conservation Act

Proposed by Rep. Lee Eun-ju (Justice Party)

● As part of the country’s plan to curb air pollution and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, this amendment expands the regions subject to solid fuel use restrictions to the entire nation and restricts the granting of permissions to new emission facilities that rely primarily on solid fuels.

Pending Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology

Proposed by Rep. Kim Sung-won (People Power Party)

● To effectively prevent technology leaks that threaten the country’s national industrial competitiveness, this amendment increases the level of penalties for leaking industrial technologies with a direct impact on national economic security to the level of espionage crimes. It also raises the upper cap of compensation for tech leaks from three to five times the assessed damage.

Promulgated Bill: Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies

Competent Authority: Financial Services Commission

● This bill aims to improve internal control awareness in financial companies and ensure the responsible operation of internal control systems. It mandates the establishment of an internal control committee under the board of directors and strengthens each executive’s supervisory duties regarding internal control.

Administrative Announcement: Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on the Promotion of Distributed Energy

Competent Authority: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

● This bill aims to create a more stable and balanced energy supply by promoting distributed energy. It encourages regions to consume locally generated electricity by imposing higher electricity costs on regions relying on grid-transmitted power. In other words, metropolitan areas that don't have power plants and don't generate electricity but have high electricity usage will have higher rates, while rural areas that have low electricity usage but have power plants will have lower rates.

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The Korea Herald republishes a weekly legislative report by local law firm DR & AJU LLC to provide the latest information on bills approved, proposed, pending and set to be promulgated. -- Ed.

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For any queries about the bills, contact cr@draju.com.