물환경 선진화를 위한 법적 과제

Abstract

Currently, most of Korea's water industry is operated, maintained by the Korean government through various bureaucratic institutions and regulations. Although there are private businesses participating in the industry, the strict government regulations and barriers have much discouraged the participation of private parties. This in turn has left the Korea’s water industry lacking the essential managerial, technological skills and advancements compare to other well-developed countries. By the year 2006, the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) will attempt to implement the “Service Activities Relation to Drinking Water Supply and Sewerage” standard (“standard”) to all of its members. The implementation ofthe standard is not mandatory for all nations. However, since 80% of the world’s trade volume is affected by the standard (i.e., many well-developed countries use the standard as a tool to overcome certain trade barriers in their favor), the implementation of the standard will greatly affect the world's water industry. As such, in order for Korea’s water supply industry to maintain a competitive presence in the domestic market and not be dominated by foreign corporations, who already have extensive experience from other countries, there is an urgent need to take active steps to rid the barriers for privatization and allow private businesses to freely enter the water market as they wish. The laws and regulations overseeing the water industry, which has been solely controlled by the public sector, needs to be amended according to current market conditions and the needs of the people. This will indeed allow the industry to be well equipped with the necessary managerial, technological skills and advancements to take on the competition from foreign companies who already have established a presence in Korea’s water supply industry.