Revised rules applied retroactively to violations before notice amendment took effect; Yangju resolves 63 cases, shares outcome with 225 local governments nationwide
Licensed real estate agents who faced fines for failing to promptly remove property listings after contracts were signed — due to simple oversight rather than intent — have had their penalties waived en masse following a proactive consulting opinion from the Board of Audit and Inspection. The board ruled that even violations occurring before a regulatory amendment took effect could be subject to the more lenient revised rules.
The board announced Tuesday that it had selected the case — titled "Application of revised rules to violations committed before the amended notice took effect" — as a featured example of proactive administration that citizens can tangibly feel in their daily lives.
Earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport revised its guidelines on "types and standards of improper real estate listing and advertising practices" on July 3 to prevent fines from being imposed on agents who simply forgot to remove a listing after a contract was concluded. The revised notice narrowed the definition of improper advertising to two specific situations: cases where an agent, knowing a contract had been signed, failed to remove the listing while steering clients toward other properties; or cases where an agent did not remove a listing within three days of receiving a notice from a relevant authority.
However, the supplementary provisions of the revised notice addressed only the effective date and contained no explicit transitional clause governing violations that occurred before it took effect. This left local governments uncertain about whether the more lenient revised rules could be applied retroactively. Yangju in Gyeonggi Province, struggling to determine whether it could refrain from imposing fines — or waive fines already levied — for pre-amendment oversights, submitted a proactive consulting request to the board.
The board sided with Yangju after reviewing relevant statutes, case law and opinions from related ministries, including the Act on the Regulation of Violations of Public Order and the Framework Act on Public Administration.
The board noted that when a legal change removes an act from the category of violations or eases the associated sanctions, the principle is to apply the amended rules unless a "special provision" dictates otherwise. It also took into account that under the Ministry of Government Legislation's standards for drafting legislation, a supplementary applicability clause sets only the timing of application and does not constitute a transitional provision requiring the old rules to govern pre-enactment conduct. The board further noted that the amendment itself was intended to curb excessive penalties for mere failures to delete listings and to focus enforcement on false or bait-and-switch listings.
On that basis, the board issued a consulting opinion stating that "for acts committed before the revised notice took effect, if those acts do not constitute grounds for a fine under the revised rules, the fine may be waived or, if already imposed, its collection and enforcement may be exempted."
Acting on the board's opinion, Yangju conducted a full review of pending fine cases and waived or resolved 63 fines totaling about 150 million won ($112,000) that had been set to be imposed on licensed real estate agents. To promote consistency in administrative practice across the country, Yangju shared the consulting outcome with 225 basic local governments nationwide.
The board said it plans to "continue resolving problems preemptively so that legal and regulatory uncertainty does not delay key local government projects or cause harm to citizens, while sustaining proactive administrative support that people can feel directly."
sunpine@heraldcorp.com
