일본 지방분권일괄법의 제정 경위와 추진 성과

Abstract

The government of Japan has strongly promoted the decentralization reform since 1990. In particular, the reform is characterized by efforts to establish an institutional basis, i.e., the enactment of the “Law on the Amendments of Related Laws to Promote Decentralization”; so-called the “Omnibus Decentralization Law.” The reasons why Japan adopted such legislative form as the “Omnibus Decentralization Law” can be explained as follows: In order to promote decentralization, related laws should be amended for the same purpose and objective in a certain direction, such as cancellation of delegation of administrative affairs by each government agency; and it is necessary to secure consistency with the Local Autonomy Law, which is the basis of the local autonomy system. In other words, the “Omnibus Decentralization Law” of Japan can be said to be a legislative form for efficiently promoting the devolution of power and responsibilities, while maintaining the direction of the decentralization reform by reflecting the general direction of decentralization in all individual related laws in blanket. In summary, the decentralization reform in Japan was promoted by formulating a promotion plan based on discussions among people at all levels of society on the objectives and direction of the decentralization reform, detailed tasks to be peformed, etc.; determining the direction of the institutional design for the reform; and then determining the methods for improving the legal system. It is possible to draw implications from the fact that institutional stability and consistency has been secured by systemizing the results of decentralization, along with such methods for institutional improvement, with the “Local Autonomy Law”, which is the basis of local autonomy. Meanwhile, from the point of view of the main promoter, the power to drive the decentralization reform was secured by adopting the Top-Down system by which schemes for supplementing defects were formulated and implemented through large-scale reviews under the direction of the Prime Minister. Also in the Republic of Korea, it is necessary to rearrange detailed tasks of promotion discussed to date and establish a new basis for further discussions through the legislative form of the “Omnibus Decentralization Law.” In addition, it is necessary to secure institutional stability and consistency by reflecting the results of decentralization in the Local Autonomy Act and the Local Finance Act, which are the bases of the local autonomy system, and other statutes related to local autonomy.