1. Reasons for Proposal

As the Act on Liability and Relief for Environmental Pollution Damage was revised (Act No. 19362; revised on April 18, 2023 and is to be enforced on April 19, 2024) for a business owner to submit necessary information such as the type and size of the relevant facility and emissions when subscribing to environmental liability insurance and to request a damage investigation from the insurer if environmental pollution damage exceeding a certain level occurs due to a facility covered by environmental liability insurance, this amendment aims to reflect matters delegated by the Act in subordinate statutes and some supplementary matters that have emerged in the operation of other current regulations.

2. Major Provisions

A. Improve so that a member of the Committee on Policies for Relief from Environmental Damage can be dismissed if he/she wishes (Article 6)

B. Specify data submitted by a business owner when subscribing to environmental liability insurance (Article 8) 

  Stipulate business registration information, license status, the type and size of the facility, pollutant emissions, handling materials, etc. as types of submission data

C. Stipulate the requirements for a damage investigation request and ex officio investigation by the Ministry of Environment (Article 11-2) 

  Stipulate the environmental pollution damage that exceeds the business owner's self-bearing amount standard as environmental pollution damage for which the Minister of Environment may request a damage investigation from the insurer and that the Minister of Environment

D. Entrust damage investigations to the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute and fact-finding investigations to the environmental liability insurance business group. (Article 33) 

E. Allow the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute to access sensitive information such as health information and criminal records when conducting damage investigations or supporting lawsuits for vulnerable groups (Article 34)

F. Impose administrative disposition if an insured business owner does not change the insurance policy to reflect changes in licenses and permits (Attached Table 7)

  For the first violation, impose a warning, for the second violation, a 10-day business suspension, for the third violation, a 3-month business suspension, and for the fourth violation, a 6-month business suspension