공익사업의 공익성 협의 제도 입법정책 과제

Land acquisition is a government action that restricts the property rights of citizens and, furthermore, can cause special losses. In order for such government actions to be justified, not only a high level of public interest is required but also a thorough verification of the public interest for the project in which land acquisition is granted is necessary. Therefore, as part of the means to strengthen the verification of public interest, the government has been implementing the public interest consultation procedure in accordance with the "Act on the Acquisition of and Compensation for Land for Public Works Projects" since July 2019. Accordingly, when the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport intends to grant a project approval, he or she shall consult with the Central Land Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal) (Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the Act). Furthermore, when a person who has the authority to grant permission, authorization, or approval for a public works project for which project approval shall be deemed to be granted intends to designate an area or approve a project plan for which project approval shall be deemed to be granted, such person shall consult the Tribunal (Article 21, Paragraph 2 of the Act). However, the public interest consultation procedure faces challenges in terms of the undetermined criteria for assessing public interest, a lack of specialized personnel within the Tribunal, and issues regarding the Tribunal's independence, etc. Therefore, this study aims to examine legislative trends related to the public interest consultation procedure since its introduction in 2019 and make legislative policy recommendations and improvement tasks related to it from a legislative perspective.