In June, a total of 00 statutes, including the Autonomous Driving Vehicles Act, will take effect.
Starting in June, various systems aimed at simultaneously ensuring citizen protection and industrial development will be implemented, including permitting extensive video data collection for autonomous vehicle research and development (R&D) and conducting safety investigations on direct overseas purchases. The Ministry of Government Legislation (Minister Cho Won-cheol) announced that a total of 00 laws and regulations will take effect this June. Some of the key details and enforcement dates of the forthcoming statutes are as follows.
Permitting Extensive Collection and Utilization of Video Data for Autonomous Vehicle Research and Development (R&D) (Act on the Promotion of and Support for Commercialization of Autonomous Vehicles, June 18)
Moving forward, a person who obtains a temporary operating permit and drives an autonomous vehicle for test or research purposes under the Motor Vehicle Management Act (Article 27) will be permitted to broadly collect and utilize video data. To improve the performance and safety of autonomous driving systems, the filming and collection of video data containing specific personal information, and the use of such collected video data without anonymization or pseudonymization will exceptionally be allowed. Concurrently, management responsibilities will also be strengthened. The use of collected video data for purposes other than the original purpose will be prohibited. Along with technical and administrative measures to prevent data breaches, an obligation to destroy the data after 5 years will be imposed. In particular, the obligation also applies to the video data collected prior to the enforcement of this law. Any video data shall be subject to destruction upon the expiration of a 5-year period from the effective date of this law.
Strengthening Safety for Directly Purchased Overseas Products (Framework Act on the Safety of Products, June 3)
To prevent consumer harm caused by directly purchased overseas products, the government may conduct safety investigations to directly identify product hazards. If the investigation reveals that a product fails to comply with individual statutory requirements or poses a risk of causing harm to consumers' lives, bodies, or property, the head of the relevant central administrative agency may request the Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service to return, destroy, or take corrective measures regarding the product. Furthermore, if product hazards are identified or consumer harm is anticipated, the government may recommend that overseas mail-order brokers take necessary actions, such as deleting the relevant product information within the e-commerce platform they operate, and may publicly disclose such facts.
Guaranteeing the Right of Defense for Victims of Specific Violent Crimes (Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Specific Violent Crimes, June 24)
To ensure that victims of specific violent crimes—such as murder, human trafficking, rape, and robbery—receive sufficient legal assistance, public defender support will become available. Previously, despite suffering severe physical and psychological trauma from crimes and facing a high risk of secondary victimization during subsequent legal proceedings, many victims of violent crimes were unable to retain an attorney due to financial burdens. In response, special legal provisions for providing state-appointed counsel will be newly established for victims of specific violent crimes, similar to existing frameworks for sexual violence and child abuse. In particular, if a victim under the age of 19, or a victim who lacks the capacity to discern objects or make decisions due to physical or mental disability, does not have an attorney, a prosecutor shall be required to assign a state-appointed counsel for the victim.
Establishing a Legal Basis for Drone Utilization in Disaster Prevention and Response (Act on Promotion of Utilization of Drones and Creation of Infrastructure Therefor, June 3)
A legal foundation will be established to actively utilize drones for proactive response and swift recovery to prevent large-scale damage from disasters such as massive wildfires. To ensure that drones can be used in the public sector throughout the entire process of disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery under the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety, the obligations of the State and local governments to make such efforts will be specified, and the basis for necessary financial support will also be provided.
