1. Reasons for Proposal

Where the Minister of the Interior and Safety designates institutions to vicariously conduct part of regular inspections of elevators (hereinafter “designated inspection institutions”), any corporation, organization, or institution that wishes to be designated is required to open business establishments in at least three Si/Do areas regardless of regional demand for inspections. As a result, service availability is concentrated in certain regions, such as metropolitan areas, and there is a likelihood of overlapping/competition between institutions.

Moreover, despite the uncertainty of designation, applicants are required to meet all designation requirements that involve financial costs, such as business establishments and inspection personnel and equipment, before applying for designation, which may induce unnecessary pre-investment by the private sector.

There is a lack of measures to legally sanction a designated inspection institution even when there are concerns that elevator safety management may be compromised by poor inspection quality or inadequate operation of the institution.

Accordingly, the Amendment introduces regionally restricted open recruitment and preliminary assessments when newly designating inspection institutions, prescribes inspection quality evaluations and administrative measures according to the results thereof, and otherwise addresses and improves upon a number of weaknesses that have emerged from the operation of the current system.

2. Major Provisions

A. Introduce regionally restricted open recruitment of designated inspection institutions (Article 37 (2) newly inserted)

- Prescribe that where the Minister of the Interior and Safety intends to newly designate inspection institutions, he or she may hold an open recruitment for new designated inspection institutions to serve regions restricted to Si/Do units after comprehensively accounting for such factors as the expected number of regular inspections of elevators in each Si/Do area and the volume of inspections that can be handled by the Korea Elevator Safety Agency and existing designated inspection institutions.

B. Introduce preliminary assessments of designated inspection institution applications (Article 37 (3) newly inserted)

- Allow any corporation, organization, or institution that wishes to be designated as an inspection institution to apply for an informal preliminary assessment to check the available regions and adequacy of the business plan before meeting the requirements that involve substantial financial costs, such as business establishments or inspection personnel and equipment.

C. Prescribe an evaluation to ensure the inspection quality of designated inspection institutions, and stipulate grounds for administrative measures taken according to the results of the evaluation (Article 37 (4) and (5) 9 newly inserted)

- Prescribe that the Minister of the Interior and Safety shall ensure the quality of inspections performed by designated inspection institutions by evaluating personnel/facility/equipment operation and the execution of regular inspections, and may order the suspension of business or revocation of designation of any designated inspection institution that receives the lowest rating for two or more consecutive years.

D. Prescribe grounds to impose penalty surcharges on designated inspection institutions that are suspended from business according to inspection quality evaluation results (Article 38 (1) amended)

- Add cases where a designated inspection institution receives the lowest rating for two or more consecutive years as grounds on which to impose a penalty surcharge in lieu of business suspension.

E. Prescribe grounds to outsource the evaluation of designated inspection institutions (Article 78 (2) 7-2 newly inserted)

- Allow the Minister of the Interior and Safety to delegate the evaluation of designated inspection institutions to the Korea Elevator Safety Agency.