Sejong, April 7 - The Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Wha-jin) announced the partial amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act to adjust projects subject to environmental impact assessment and revamp standards for re-consultation was passed by the State Council on March 28, 2023, and took effect from March 31, 2023. The amendment includes follow-up measures to the environmental deregulation announced on August 26, 2022, and legal reform tasks recommended by the Ministry of Government Legislation.

The details of the amendment are as follows.

① The Ministry of Environment will streamline projects subject to Mini Environmental Impact Assessment and the scope thereof. 

The installation of underground utilities for roads in agricultural and fishing villages or small projects carried out in planned management areas shall be excluded from the small-scale environmental impact assessment. The criterion used to determine whether a construction project for a forest campsite or leisure and sports facilities inside the forest is subject to environmental impact assessment is changed from the approved area to the developed area.

② The Ministry of Environment will improve the criteria for the re-consultation on environmental impact assessment.

Only the same area criterion shall be applied when determining whether a project is subject to the re-consultation on environmental impact assessment. The same area criterion means that the project scale increases by not less than the minimum extent of an area subject to environmental impact assessment. The burden of re-consultation is removed for a small-scale change by excluding cases subject to re-consultation where the scale of a project or facility increases by 30% or more.

③ The Ministry of Environment will reduce the period of environmental impact assessment by increasing the scope of projects subject to the summary process.

When a project becomes subject to re-consultation due to the increased project scale after consultation of environmental impact assessment, if a scale increase of 200% or less of the minimum scale subject to environmental impact assessment, a summary procedure for environmental impact assessment shall be applied. For cases where a summary procedure is applied to environmental impact assessment, collecting opinions from residents and others and consulting environmental impact assessment can be done simultaneously, thus reducing the consultation period.

④ The Ministry of Environment will increase the reliability and flexibility of system management. 

A 'Committee for Adjusting Agreed Terms and Conditions' will be organized to enhance the neutral and expert review of project implementors' requests to adjust agreed terms and conditions. For the penalty surcharges imposed instead of reinstating a site, the penalty surcharge amount will be reduced to one-half of the existing amount or less, concerning the type and extent of the violation.

Kim Jong-ryul, Director-General of the Nature Conservation Bureau of the Ministry of Environment, said, "This amendment is expected to update the range of projects subject to environmental impact assessment and the process, thus improving the efficiency of the relevant system. We will continue to advance the system to increase assessment efficiency and achieve greater harmony between development and conservation."

Contact: Lee Jin-hee, Deputy Director

Environment Assessment Policy Division / +82-(0)44-201-7271

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr