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Busan Metropolitan City Holds the 2026 Regulatory Rationalization Best Practice Competition and Selects Six Outstanding Cases

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that it held the 2026 Regulatory Rationalization Best Practice Competition at 2:00 p.m. on July 24 in Small Conference Room 1 on the 12th floor of City Hall and selected outstanding regulatory rationalization cases undertaken to address regulations affecting residents’ livelihoods and local industries.

The competition was organized to identify and recognize creative and effective regulatory rationalization cases that residents can experience firsthand, thereby widely promoting and disseminating the achievements of regulatory innovation.

Approximately 40 people attended the competition, including officials responsible for regulatory rationalization at the city, district, and county levels. On-site presentations and evaluations were conducted for 12 cases selected through document screening, and six were ultimately chosen as outstanding cases.

Of the 21 cases submitted by the city, districts, and county, 12 passed the initial document screening and advanced to the final evaluation. A total of six outstanding cases were selected: one Grand Prize winner, two Excellence Award winners, and three Merit Award winners.

The Grand Prize was awarded to the Green Forest City Division of Busan Metropolitan City for its case, “From a Gray Landfill to Carbon Credits: Korea’s First Registration of an External Project Within an Organizational Boundary.” The case was highly acclaimed as the first in Korea to enable the registration of a carbon sink project at a closed landfill with no carbon-emitting facilities by demonstrating the project’s logical validity in accordance with international standards.

The Excellence Awards went to “Institutionalizing the Deferral of Mortgage Principal Repayments for Employees on Parental Leave,” submitted by the city’s Women and Family Division, which contributed to addressing the low birth rate crisis by easing the financial burden associated with parental leave, and “Advancing Dongnae-gu’s Distinctive Urban Regeneration Project Through Proactive Boundary Changes and an Agreement on the Construction of Permanent Facilities,” submitted by Dongnae-gu, which helped revitalize the local economy by branding historical and cultural assets.

The Merit Awards went to “Persistent Proposals for Revision: Improving Taxpayer Convenience Through Amendments to Local Tax Laws,” submitted by Haeundae-gu, which strengthened the protection of taxpayer rights and improved public trust in government administration; “Improving Access to Pediatric Medical Care at Night and on Holidays Through the Additional Designation of a Moonlight Children’s Hospital,” submitted by Gangseo-gu, which addressed gaps in medical services by establishing a sustainable treatment system; and “Resolving Local Conflicts Through Cultural Policy,” submitted by Suyeong-gu, which revitalized a declining commercial district by transforming it into a multi-purpose cultural space.

The six outstanding cases will be submitted as Busan Metropolitan City’s representative entries to the Local Regulatory Rationalization Best Practice Competition organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, where they will compete against outstanding cases from metropolitan governments nationwide. Through this process, the city expects its achievements to be disseminated across the country.

Yoon Jeong-no, Director of the Planning Office, said, “Regulatory innovation across a wide range of fields is essential to resolving public inconvenience and revitalizing the local economy through regulatory rationalization.”

He added, “We will continue to actively identify regulatory rationalization cases and use them as a catalyst for further regulatory innovation, creating tangible changes that residents can experience firsthand.”