Korea announces Regulatory Innovation Measures for Environment

On August 26, 2022, the Ministry of Environment of South Korea announced that it had reported four major policy proposals for future environmental regulations to President Yoon at the first Regulatory Innovation Strategy Meeting. Specifically, the positive list system will be converted to a negative list system, and the criteria will be applied according to risk rather than uniformly. In addition, the Ministry of Environment intends to establish a system of communication and consultation with companies, rather than one-sided regulation on the part of the government, and to give priority to regulations related to carbon neutrality and recycling. The Ministry stated that the new administration needs to improve regulations for implementing environmental policies to consider the situation on the ground, especially in the private sector, while adhering to environmental policy goals and standards.