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Minister of Government Legislation Lee Wan-kyu, center, National Assembly Library Chief Librarian Lee Myung-woo, right, and Korea Legislation Research Institute President Han Yeong-soo pose after signing an agreement on joint use of overseas legislative information at a ceremony in Sejong, Thursday. Courtesy of Ministry of Government Legislation |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Ministry of Government Legislation signed an agreement with the National Assembly Library and the Korea Legislation Research Institute (KLRI) on sharing research reports and translations of overseas acts and ordinances possessed by each organization, to provide the public better access to information on overseas laws.
According to the ministry, it held a signing ceremony for the agreement on joint use of overseas legislative information in Sejong, Thursday. Government Legislation Minister Lee Wan-kyu, National Assembly Library Chief Librarian Lee Myung-woo and KLRI President Han Yeong-soo attended the ceremony.
So far, the three organizations have been providing overseas legislation information tailored to their respective audiences and specific needs.
The legislation ministry has been producing translated versions of laws and regulations helpful for overseas exports and investments on the website of the World Legal Information Center. The National Assembly Library has been providing translated versions of foreign laws to support the legislative activities of the Assembly, while the KLRI has been focusing primarily on producing and providing research reports on global issues related to establishing policies for government agencies.
The World Legal Information Center is a ministry-run web portal providing more than 16,000 items on overseas law translations, legislation trends and other useful information for small and medium-sized companies seeking overseas entry.
Following the agreement, the three organizations will jointly use translated or original versions of overseas laws and regulations that each organization has acquired and provide all of them to their users. They also decided to provide various additional information, such as research reports on overseas legal systems, legislative trends and other relevant legislative data.
They agreed on close collaboration for collecting and analyzing overseas legislation information that could significantly affect the Korean economy, such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.
In August, the three organizations collaborated on providing assistance to businesses and other government arms in their responses to the IRA, which is aimed at providing incentives to purchasers of electric vehicles manufactured in North America. The ministry provided translated versions of key provisions and legislative trends, while the National Assembly Library offered specialized translations, excluding the ministry's translated portions. The KLRI prepared research reports on the key contents of the legislation.
To build upon this experience, the three organizations agreed to have prior consultations before producing overseas legislative information and hold working-level meetings to enable synergy.
"In order to weather through global economic difficulties with exports, every government arm is sparing no efforts to promote exports," Minister Lee said. "The agreement is anticipated to improve public and corporate accessibility to overseas legal information, which is part of export infrastructure."