Safety Inspection System (KR0039)

Adoption of a Safety Inspection System Powered by the Public Petition
Commitment Start and End Date
September 1, 2018 ~ August 31, 2020
Lead Implementing Agency/Actor
Customer Support Office, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
Commitment Description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
Recently an array of scandals surrounding frequently-used consumer goods has garnered attention from the public: pesticide-tainted eggs and toxic sanitary pads with volatile chemical compounds. In general, relevant government bodies collect and inspect the items that have become a social issue such as items with harmful substance domestically or internationally disclosed or pointed out by the National Assembly or the press. Therefore, the public has limited access to make requests for inspection. In addition, the outcome of the inspection is only partially disclosed which in turn hinders the public from participating in response measures.
What is the commitment?
The purpose of this commitment is to address the public’s concern over the food and drug safety through conducting an inspection on certain food or drug items upon the public’s request via petition and sharing the outcome of the inspection transparently. The public’s trust on the government in relation to health and safety will be boosted through directly listening to the public’s voice and carrying out policies accordingly.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
The detailed implementation methods are as follows: 1) to build and operate a publicpetition safety inspection website, petition.mfds.go.kr; 2) to create and operate the committee for the public petition safety inspection to select subjects of safety inspections petitioned by a majority of the public and discuss the validity of inspection outcomes; 3) to inspect items with a high number of petitions in the initial stage and ultimately determine the threshold number of petitions based on the analysis of cases.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
Enhancing government-to-public communication and transparency
Exchange and Peer Learning
Sharing cases and relevant information at the international level
Additional Information
The budget for collecting and inspecting subjects of safety inspection needs to be secured
Milestone Activity with a Verifiable Deliverable
Creating selection standard
Selecting subjects of safety inspections every quarter
Contact Information
Name of Responsible Person from Implementing Agency
Seonjeong Seo
Title, Division
Administrative Officer, Customer Support Office
Email and Phone
seo4359@korea.kr, +82-43-719-1052
Other Actors Involved
N/A

4. Adoption of a Safety Inspection System Powered by the Public Petition

Commitment Text:

"Adoption of a Safety Inspection System Powered by the Public Petition"

The purpose of this commitment is to address the public's concern over the food and drug safety through conducting an inspection on certain food or drug items upon the public's request via petition and sharing the outcome of the inspection transparently. The public's trust on the government in relation to health and safety will be boosted through directly listening to the public's voice and carrying out policies accordingly.

The detailed implementation methods are as follows:

1) to build and operate a public petition safety inspection website, petition.mfds.go.kr;

2) to create and operate the committee for the public petition safety inspection to select subjects of safety inspections petitioned by a majority of the public and discuss the validity of inspection outcomes;

3) to inspect items with a high number of petitions in the initial stage and ultimately determine the threshold number of petitions based on the analysis of cases.

Milestones:

• Creating selection standard
• Selecting subjects of safety inspections every quarter

Start Date: 1 September 2018 End Date: 31 August 2020

Editorial Note: For the full text of the commitment, please see Korea's 4th National Action Plan 2018-2020 at https://bit.ly/2JvQr98.

Context and Objectives

The purpose of this commitment is to facilitate public participation in ensuring food and drug safety. It will allow the public to petition for the inspection of items and increase access to this information. The commitment will create selection standards and a committee, who will select items for inspection from public petitions on a quarterly basis. Information from these inspections will be published online, on a dedicated website. [16]

This commitment is verifiable as it outlines measurable milestones including the creation of selection standards and quarterly selection of items for inspection. While the commitment text outlines the main implementation steps, it does not include details on the composition of the subject selection committee, nor the scope of information that will be published. However, enacted in May 2018, the regulations on the operation of the National Petition Safety Inspection Deliberation Committee specify the expected qualifications of the committee members, [17] and the guidelines for the operation of the National Petition Safety Inspection System detail what information will be disclosed as part of the inspection protocol. [18]

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation as public petitioning creates new opportunities for citizens to inform decision-making in the area of food and drug safety. It is also relevant to access to information as the results of the safety inspections will be disclosed to the public. The commitment is also relevant to the value of technology and innovation for transparency as it will publish this information on a dedicated website. [19]

This commitment stands to have moderate potential impact on improving access to information and facilitating public participation in food and drug safety processes. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), prior to this commitment, only the outcome of safety inspections that were found not to conform with food and drug standards were disclosed to the public. [20] The MFDS also noted that citizens found it difficult to request product inspections. [21] No information on safety inspections was disclosed to the public and the public had no opportunity to request inspections. [22] In general, the commitment stands to shift the National Petition Safety Inspection system from a largely government-led inspection process to a participatory mechanism that responds to citizen concerns.

While this commitment stands to introduce public participation and access to information on food and drug safety inspections, successful implementation depends on the subject selection committee comprising diverse stakeholders, the extent to which public petitions will be proactively selected for inspection, and the information being made accessible to the wider public. While the committee's regulations stipulate an inclusive multistakeholder composition, the commitment does not specify the number of petitions that will be considered under this commitment, nor does it outline any measures to simplify the information for general consumption. This limits an assessment of the full scope of this commitment.

Next steps

Public participation and the increased disclosure of information will strengthen public trust in food and drug safety protocols. If this commitment is carried forward into future action plans, the IRM recommends that stakeholders supplement existing multi-channel efforts to disseminate inspection results with the public, with measures to ensure that the often-technical information on food and drug safety is simplified and published in easily accessible formats.

4. Adoption of a Safety Inspection System Powered by the Public Petition

Complete:

For details regarding implementation and early results, see Section 2.3.

Aim of the commitment

The purpose of this commitment was to facilitate public participation in ensuring food and drug safety. It would allow the public to petition for the inspection of items and increase access to this information. The commitment envisioned creation of selection standards and a committee to select items for inspection from public petitions on a quarterly basis. Inspection findings would be published on a dedicated website. [2]

Did it open government?

Major

The petition-based safety inspection system initiates inspections by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety upon the receipt of 2,000 signatures. A dedicated website and YouTube channel were launched in December 2019 to publish information on petitions and inspection results. [3] According to the government, a selection committee was established to guarantee objectivity and expertise in the selection process and validity of inspection results. [4] It includes 100 members from consumer organizations, the legal sector, and relevant technical fields.

According to the government’s self-assessment, as of August 2020, the ministry has conducted ten inspections. [5] Some of the product categories inspected include wet wipes, children’s diapers, herbal medicine ingredients, and protein supplements. As a result, authorities have issued recalls, disposals, and import restrictions.

This commitment is a major change in government practice in the areas of public access to information and civic participation in safety inspections. Before its implementation, the government only shared information on inspections that did not comply with food and drug standards, and the public had no opportunity to request inspections. Now, citizens can request inspections on products while authorities take specific measures based on their findings.

The IRM reached out to civil society organizations to include their perspectives on this commitment but did not receive a response.