ACRC Proposed 93.2 Billion KRW (USD 80 million) for Its Next Year’s Budget Focusing on
Creating Tangible Outcome for Citizens
in Anti-Corruption and Reform for Fairness

“Making the year 2022 the first year

of becoming one of the top 20s in CPI”

□ The ACRC unveiled 93.2 billion KRW plan for the next year budget, up by 2.33 billion KRW from this year

◈ To put all the energy to introduce the Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Public Officials in a systemic manner to enhance integrity and fairness in public offices

◈ To spread ethics and compliance management culture to improve the level of national integrity greatly

◈ To strengthen protection of rights of people by expanding active administration service, and providing customized service for administrative appeals

◈ To build a pan-government civic complaint handling system to enhance efficiency of addressing complaints of people

(2nd Sep. 2021, ACRC)

Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (Chairperson: Jeon Hyun-Heui, ACRC) announced that it proposes 93.2 billion KRW for its 2022 budget, up by around 2.3 billion KRW from 90.8 billion KRW in the previous year.

To achieve its national goal of becoming one of the top 20s in CPI in 2022, the ACRC will make its best efforts in creating tangible results for citizens in anti-corruption and reform for fairness. To this end, the ACRC proposed its budget plan focusing on 1) implementation of the Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Public Officials without any problem, 2) stronger support for ethics and compliance management in the private sector, and 3) facilitation of corruption report and public interest report, as well as protection and reward for reporters.

① Creating the outcome in anti-corruption and reform for fairness through smooth implementation of the Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Public Officials

First, the commission will make full preparation for stable implementation and early adoption of the Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Public Officials (to be effective on 19th May 2022) as early as possible in public offices.

As the law is applicable to as many as 14,568 organizations and about 2 million public officials, the commission will focus on education and communication to prevent confusion in the early phase and violation of the law due to poor understanding.

※ [New budget item] Operating a system to prevent conflict of interest through education, communication and report handling : up by 570 million KRW (in the 2022 budget plan)

Moreover, for efficient implementation of the system for preventing conflict of interest, an information system will be established to support the relevant tasks, such as receiving and handling violation reports as well as advance report of matters that should be reported mandatorily, including private interest of public officials. With this, the commission will prevent confusion in the early period of implementation, while staving off waste of budget caused by duplication of system development in each organization.

※ [New budget item] Building an information system for the Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest of Public Officials : up by 700 million KRW (in the 2022 budget plan)

② Stronger support for ethics and compliance management of the private sector to improve integrity

The ACRC also diligently included the budget to enhance the level of integrity in the public and private companies in the plan as it is essential to make a leap forward to become an advanced country in integrity.

To respond to the strengthened anti-corruption norms from home and abroad, the commission will expand and operate ethics and compliance management training courses for public companies. In the meantime, it will also revamp its support for ethics and compliance corporate management by creating and distributing Korea Compliance Program (KCP), so that companies can voluntarily practice ethics and compliance management.

※ Expansion of integrity education and awareness : 2.24 billion KRW (in 2021) → 2.62 billion KRW (in 2022 plan)

* Expansion of ethics and compliance management training courses : up by 100 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

※ Cooperation with the private sector for integrity, rights and interests : 580 million KRW (in 2021) → 670 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

* [New budget item] operation of a compliance program for ethics and compliance management : up by 130 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

③ Facilitation of corruption report and public interest report as well as stronger protection and reward for reporters

The ACRC will strengthen the protection and reward system for corruption reporters and public reporters and enhance easy reporting process in order to encourage more active corruption report and public interest report.

It also expanded the compensation for the reporters who contribute to the increased income or cost saving for public organizations by making corruption reports, public interest reports or report on false claim of public funds.

In addition, the commission increased the budget needed for making ☎1398 Call service available for free and improving its features. The ☎1398 Call service is intended to provide consultation for the report on corruptive behavior and violation of public interest, violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act as well as Code of Conduct for Public Officials, and false claim for public funds.

※ Compensation for reporters of corruptive behavior: 2.55 billion KRW (in 2021) → 2.96 billion KRW (up by 400 million KRW) (in 2022 plan)

Compensation for reporters of false claim for public funds: 110 million KRW (in 2021) → 160 million KRW (up by 50 million KRW) (in 2022 plan)

※ Making ☎1398 Call Service for Corruption Reporting and Public Interest Reporting available for free with improved features :  720 million KRW (in 2021) → 860 million KRW (up by 140 million KRW) (in 2022 plan)

Further, the ACRC plans to promote key programs actively in addressing complaints and/or protecting rights and interests in order to enhance rights and interests of citizens who are suffering from COVID-19 pandemic in a swift and practical way.

④ Leading active administration service by operating Active Administration Service Requesting System for Citizens

First, the commission will promote active administration service that is tangibly effective for citizens by including the budget for operating the Active Administration Service Requesting System for Citizens. This system was introduced to enable citizens to make request for solving public problem caused by unclear laws and regulations.

※ Improving corruptive or problematic system : 74 million KRW (in 2021) → 97 million (in 2022 plan)

* [New budget item] Operation of active administrative service requesting system for citizens, etc. : up by 23 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

⑤ Providing customized service for administrative appeals

Also, it develops a system to provide customized service for filing administrative appeals, which became a selected program through Citizen Participatory Budgeting. With this service, as anyone can file administrative appeals easily without getting help from experts, such as lawyer, it is expected that citizen rights and interests will be protected even more.

※ Operating hub system for administrative appeals : 910 million KRW (in 2021) → 1.4 billion KRW (in 2022 plan)

* [New budget item] Providing customized service for administrative appeals : up by 490 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

⑥ Building pan-government Citizen Complaint Handling System to address difficulties and complaints swiftly

Further, the ACRC added the budget item for planing informatization strategy for pan-government Citizen Complaint Handling System, so that the commission and local ombudsman in each region can resolve difficulties and complaints quickly and efficiently through cooperation and division of labor

※ [New budget item] BPR/ISP for pan-government citizen complaints handling system : up by 190 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

⑦ Promoting reorganization of intelligent integrated call center to improve quality of counseling service

Additionally, the ACRC plans to implement a program for reorganizing intelligent integrated call center without problem (in 2022~2023). This program is to integrate counseling data held by 96 call centers operated by the government agencies centering around the Citizen Call 110, a pan-government phone-based counseling service on civil complaints. By doing so, it will establish cooperative system among agencies and improve the quality of counseling service for citizens.

※ Building ‘Integrated Intelligent Call Center’(e-Government budget under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety) : up by 937 million KRW (in 2022 plan)

Chairperson Jeon Hyun-Heui of the ACRC said, “the commission will solidify the basis for anti-corruption and fairness to place Korea in the top 20s in CPI in 2022. In the meantime, with the mission to serve as the last resort for protecting rights and interests of citizens, the agency will also make greater efforts to protect rights and interests of citizens, so that no one will be marginalized.”

She also emphasized, “the ACRC will do its best in the National Assembly budgeting process to secure the budget for the key programs in the next year according to the plan.” After deliberation and resolution by the National Assembly, the 2022 ACRC budget will be finalized in December.