Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the importance of the environment has been emphasized, drawing more attention to the “Green New Deal,” a package of policies that focuses on fostering new industries in the energy sector.   The Green New Deal emphasizes sustainable development centered on the environment and people, the transition to a low-carbon economy where the focus of energy policies changes from fossil energy to new and renewable energy, and in particular, green remodeling that improves the energy efficiency and performance of buildings.

Concerning such matters, the current Act stipulates a building energy efficiency rating certification system and a zero energy building certification system, providing an institutional foundation to increase the number of buildings with high energy performance and to manage building energy effectively, but as the procedure for confirming information on the energy performance of a building upon its sale, purchase, or lease is provided as a non-mandatory provision, there are concerns that information on building energy is underused.

Hence, this Amendment aims to not only allow a licensed real estate agent to guide the purchaser or lessee to confirm the energy assessment report of the building subject to the conveyance upon its sale, purchase, or lease, but requires the owner of the relevant building or licensed real estate agent to attach the relevant energy assessment report to the written agreement upon such sale, purchase, or lease and actively share energy-related information of the relevant building in the real estate transaction market to minimize transaction costs and enhance the utilization of information on building energy performance (Article 18, paragraph 2).

Disclosure and Utilization of Information on Building Energy (Article 18)