1. Reasons for Proposal

The Management of Marine Garbage and Contaminated Marine Sediment Act was amended (Act No. 19727; promulgated on September 14, 2023; to be enforced on March 15, 2024) to increase the scope of garbage available for use, educate marine garbage management business technicians, prescribe legal grounds for Coastal Cleanup Day, newly insert acts that are subject to administrative fines, and otherwise systematically manage marine garbage and contaminated marine sediment. Accordingly, this Amendment prescribes garbage other than dredged materials that are available for use and the relevant standards, matters concerning the education of marine garbage management business technicians, details on Coastal Cleanup Day, matters concerning the delegation of duties by the heads of regional offices of oceans and fisheries, standards on the imposition of administrative fines against newly inserted violations, and other matters delegated by the Act and provisions necessary for the enforcement thereof.

2. Major Provisions

A. Specify garbage other than dredged materials that are available for use (Article 9)

1) Specify shells of shellfish as “other garbage prescribed by Presidential Decree” that are available for use in addition to dredged materials (Article 9 (1)).

2) Account for the newly inserted paragraph 1 by changing the current paragraph 1 to paragraph 2, and modify wording from “in Article 18 (1)” to “in the latter part of Article 18 (1)” (Article 9 (2)).

3) Modify wording in accordance with the amended Article 18 (1) of the Act and stipulate that fishery byproducts subject to the Act on Fishery Byproducts Recycling Promotion may be used for purposes specified in the said Act (Article 9 (3) 3).

4) Amend Table 3 from “Standards on Dredged Materials Available for Use” to “Standards on Dredged Materials, etc. Available for Use,” and stipulate in subparagraph 3 that the shells of shellfish shall be used in accordance with standards set forth in the Act on Fishery Byproducts Recycling Promotion or standards determined and announced by the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries (Article 9 Table 3).

B. In accordance with the amendment of technical skills to technicians in Article 19 of the Act, make the same amendment to the linked Enforcement Decree (Article 10, Article 11, Article 11 Table 4, Article 14)

C. Prescribe training frequencies, etc. for marine garbage management business technicians (Article 11-2)

1) Prescribe that marine garbage management business technicians shall be trained on the prevention of marine pollution and the pest control process every 5 years, and that the initial training shall take place within 1 year of a technician becoming subject to training (Article 11-2 (1)).

2) Prescribe durations for initial training and refresher training (Article 11-2 (2)).

D. Prescribe detailed matters concerning Coastal Cleanup Day (Article 13-2)

1) Prescribe that Coastal Cleanup Day shall take place on the third Saturday of September (Article 13-2 (1)).

2) Prescribe matters concerning the establishment of a coastal cleanup week, educational/promotional and other events about Coastal Cleanup Day, and requests for cooperation made to relevant organizations, etc. (Article 13-2 (2)).

E. Allow the heads of regional offices of oceans and fisheries to delegate the collection of floating garbage to the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (Article 16 (2))

F. Prescribe criteria for imposing newly inserted administrative fines, such as those imposed upon disposing of household waste resulting from the use of transportation equipment or during the course of business activities, disposing of other household waste, and failure to train technicians, and modify wording to reflect amendments to the Act (Article 17 Table 5)