Enactment of the Enforcement Decree of the Marine Utilization Impact Assessment Act, Including Formation of Deliberation Committee for Marine Utilization Impact Assessment

- To enhance the convenience of business operators such as pre-adjustment of assessment items and scope and selection of evaluation agents by public institutions and to enhance the objectivity of marine use impact assessment

 The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; Minister Kang Do-hyung) announced on Tuesday, December 24 that the legislation proposal of the Enforcement Decree of the Marine Utilization Impact Assessment Act passed the Cabinet meeting.

 As the Marine Utilization Impact Assessment Act—enacted by separating the provisions on marine utilization agreements from the Marine Environment Management Act—will go into effect on Friday, January 3 next year, the enforcement decree has been enacted to stipulate the details and procedures delegated by the law. The main contents of the legislation draft are as follows:

 First, the enforcement decree stipulates the formation and operation of the Deliberation Committee for Marine Utilization Impact Assessment consisting of no more than 10 members including experts and resident representatives to review matters related to the subject area, evaluation items, and scope of the marine use impact assessment. Through this, unnecessary costs and waste of administrative efforts are expected to be prevented, and important items can be substantively assessed by adjusting assessment items and scope in advance according to the project characteristics.

 Moreover, for large-scale projects with high risk of causing social conflict such as sea aggregate extraction and offshore wind power, an assessment agent is selected by a public institution (Korea Maritime Environment Management Corporation) designated by the state. Through this, the objectivity and reliability of the assessment reports will be improved unlike in the past when the project operator selected the assessment agency.

 The system has also been improved to resolve the inconveniences experienced by the project implementers during the assessment process, such as limiting the number of requests for supplementary documents to a maximum of two times and specifying the requirements for re-negotiation.

 “We expect this enactment of the Enforcement Decree of the Marine Utilization Impact Assessment Act to increase expertise in marine utilization impact assessments and relieve the burden on business operators. We will continue to focus our policy capabilities on preserving the marine environment amendment and promoting sustainable use of the sea,” Minister Kang Do-hyung said.