Publication

Seven Years of Negative-List Regulation: A Provision Was Created, but It Did Not Become the Principle

Article 5-2 of Korea's Framework Act on Administrative Regulations took effect on July 17, 2019. It covers services and products using new technology and requires only that the permitted-in-principle approach be given priority consideration. Cumulative regulatory sandbox approvals stand at 2,760 on the portal as of October 9, 2026, while an OECD report and a Ministry of Planning and Budget document put completed revisions of laws and regulations at 617. The United States has no federal statute with comprehensive regulatory authority over AI, yet AI medical devices need premarket review and vehicles without a steering wheel need an exemption; China's 2025 market access negative list has 106 items, 100 of them licensing items, and certain generative AI services go through a security assessment and filing. In Korea about 6% of laws are initiated by the executive, and no regulatory impact analysis is attached to laws initiated by the National Assembly; four bills on prior impact analysis are pending. From November 13, 2026, proposals to abolish or relax life and safety regulations will carry a regulatory impact analysis. This report judges that the time has come to examine raising the negative-list approach to the principle of regulatory legislation for new-technology services and products, accompanied by means of ex post liability and excluding life and safety fields.