공익법인 법제 현황과 개선 방향 - 공익위원회 설치 논의를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Recent series of incidents such as the K-sports and the Mir foundation have increased the public's distrust of the establishment and operation of public interest corporations. In response, the National Assembly and the government are pushing for amendment to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Public Interest Corporations (hereinafter referred to as the "Public Interest Corporation Act"). The Public Interest Corporation Act has not seen significant change since its enactment forty years ago and does not fully reflect the change in society during this period. Its scope is limited to regulating narrow range of public interest corporations. As such, nonprofit and public interest corporations have been subject to a plethora of laws and regulations of governmental Ministries, which have imposed unnecessary burden on the establishment and operation of these corporations. Bureaucratic red-tape limits intended business of nonprofit and public interest corporations to the scope of purview of the supervising Ministry. In order to remedy such problems, it is necessary to distinguish between a general nonprofit corporation and a public interest corporation. For the former, autonomy should be maximized, such as by abolishing the establishment permit and minimizing supervision, and the latter should be subject to a unified system of supervision on the basis of absolute necessity. Public corporation should be recognized through a system of application and review, and supervised by the Public Interest Committee. Governmental support should be expanded in recognition of the public interest nature of the corporations. If the Public Interest Committee is given the competence to recognize, supervise, and support public interest corporations, its impact on the public interest corporation would likely be significant. Therefore, the composition of Committee members should be focused on fairness. Rather than granting excessive discretion to the public interest committee, it is necessary to clarify the methods and limitations of exercising various powers in the law. The public committee meeting process should be transparent so that internal and external control of the activities of the public members can be achieved. In addition, law should explictly provide that the main function of the Committee is to support public interest corporations, and various support measures for public interest corporations need to be specifically reflected in the amended Act. It is hoped that various discussions on the above-mentioned public committee will be accumulated, and system improvement will be made to reduce administrative burdens of public interest corporations and expand support for public interest activities, thereby bolstering public participation and public interest corporations' social performance.