ECONOMIC EDUCATION SUPPORT ACT
Act No. 9409, Feb. 6, 2009
Amended by Act No. 10898, Jul. 25, 2011
Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016
Act No. 15283, Dec. 26, 2017
The purpose of this Act is to provide support to citizens engaged in economic activities in making rational decisions with their own responsibilities by providing for matters necessary for the activation of economic education and further contribute to the development of the nation and society.
The terms used in this Act shall be defined as follows:
| 1. | The term "economic education" means any type of education related to economy provided for the purpose of acquiring knowledge related to economy, such as consumption, production, finance, etc., cultivating awareness and improving rational decision-making capacity; |
| 2. | The term "economic education organization" means any of the following institutions or organizations: |
| (a) | An institution or organization whose main or incidental work is to provide economic education, or which conducts research on economic education; |
| 3. | The term "human resources engaged in economic education" means any of the following persons with knowledge and ability which enable them to provide economic education or conduct research on economic education: |
| (b) | Researchers of economic education organizations; |
| (c) | Other professional human resources prescribed by Presidential Decree as having ability to provide economic education; |
| 4. | The term "core concepts of economic education" means the minimum economic concepts that must be learned to conduct rational economic activities. |
| Article 3 (Basic Principles of Economic Education) |
| (1) | Economic education shall be provided in a pragmatic direction that assists the economic activities of citizens. |
| (2) | No economic education shall be provided to advocate the interests of any specific organization or person. |
| (3) | Economic education shall be encouraged in Korea and abroad, or inside and outside schools. |
| Article 4 (Obligations of the State) |
| (1) | The State shall endeavor to ensure that sufficient opportunities of economic education are provided in or out of schools. |
| (2) | The State shall endeavor to ensure that economic education programs suitable for improving the nation's ability to make rational decisions on economic activities are organized and utilized. |
| (3) | The State shall endeavor to foster professional human resources engaged in economic education in a systematic manner. |
| Article 5 (Activation of Economic Education) |
| (1) | The State shall endeavor to stay closely informed of the current status of economic education and the nation's ability to understand the economy with a view to activating economic education. |
| (2) | The State shall endeavor to ensure that economic education in schools is provided in a systematic and continuous manner. |
| (3) | The State shall endeavor to activate economic education suitable for each target of education, with a view to improving the nation's ability to understand the economy. |
| (4) | The State shall endeavor to ensure examinations for the evaluation and certification of an ability to understand the economy are introduced and established. |
| Article 6 (Core Concepts, etc. of Economic Education) |
| (1) | The State shall endeavor to establish the core concepts of economic education and develop economic education textbooks focused on case studies, so as to assist people to easily apply the core concepts of economic education to their economic activities. |
| (2) | The core concepts of economic education shall be developed by reflecting the opinions of economic education organizations, specialists, or teachers in the relevant academic circle and considering economic principles, economic education methodology, utilization of economic education in real life, educational stages, etc. |
| (3) | The State shall endeavor to ensure that pragmatic and systematic economic education is provided by reflecting the core concepts of economic education, including market principles, rational choice, labor, finance, and economic citizenship necessary for individual economic activities, and case studies applied to real life in curriculum, etc. <Amended by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016> |
| (4) | The State shall endeavor to ensure that a database concerning economic education textbooks, etc., is built and easily utilized. |
| Article 7 (Fostering Human Resources Engaged in Economic Education) |
| (1) | The State and local governments shall endeavor to provide training and reeducation opportunities for human resources engaged in economic education with a view to improving their ability to teach economic lessons. |
| (2) | The State and local governments shall endeavor to encourage the participation of human resources engaged in economic education in training programs by supporting people who achieved good scores in training programs, developing distance training programs, etc. |
| (3) | The State and local governments shall endeavor to promote and encourage economic education by selecting and publicizing exemplary economic education cases, etc. |
| (4) | The State and local governments shall endeavor to ensure that economic education organizations readily utilize human resources engaged in economic education in cooperation by building a database for human resources engaged in economic education, etc. |
| Article 8 (Promotion of Economic Education) |
The Minister of Strategy and Finance shall conduct, in a neutral and efficient manner, the following duties necessary for creating foundation to boost economic education:
| 1. | Formulating and coordinating plans for overall economic education of the State; |
| 2. | Implementing projects for economic education and creating the foundation thereof, including development and dissemination of economic education textbooks, cultivation and utilization of human resources engaged in economic education, and building of economic education portals; |
| 3. | Other matters necessary for activating economic education as well as projects for supporting economic education. |
[This Article Wholly Amended by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016]
| Article 8-2 (Economic Education Committee) |
| (1) | The Minister of Strategy and Finance shall organize and operate an Economic Education Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Committee”) to deliberate on, and evaluate, the following matters for economic education: |
| 1. | Formulating and coordinating policies for economic education; |
| 2. | Appropriateness of plans for economic education; |
| 3. | Propriety and neutrality of projects for economic education; |
| 4. | Efficiency of execution of budget concerning economic education; |
| 5. | Other matters prescribed by Presidential Decree related to deliberation and evaluation on projects for economic education. |
| (2) | The Committee shall be comprised of one chairperson and the following members, and the Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance designated by the Minister of Strategy and Finance shall serve as the chairperson: |
| 1. | Public officials in the Senior Civil Service, designated by the Minister of Strategy and Finance; |
| 2. | Public officials in the Senior Civil Services of the relevant administrative agencies, prescribed by Presidential Decree; |
| 3. | Persons with substantial knowledge and experience in economic education and with neutrality, commissioned by the Minister of Strategy and Finance, each of them in educational, economic, academic, journalistic, and labor circles, etc. |
| (3) | The term of office of each member referred to in paragraph (2) 3 shall be two years, renewable for a further term. |
| (4) | Each member referred to in paragraph (2) 3 shall perform his/her duties conscientiously and in good faith, for neutrality and efficiency of projects for economic education. |
| (5) | The Committee may request the relevant administrative agencies referred to in paragraph (2) 2 to submit the relevant materials if necessary for deliberation and evaluation on projects for economic education. |
| (6) | Other matters necessary for the operation of the Committee shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree. |
[This Article Newly Inserted by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016]
| Article 9 (Designation and Operation of Regional Economic Education Centers) |
| (1) | The Minister of Strategy and Finance may designate any institution or organization, the main purpose of which is to provide economic education or deemed to be capable of providing economic education, as a regional economic education center, in order to boost regional economic education. In such cases, the Minister of Strategy and Finance shall consider the opinions of the Committee. <Amended by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016> |
| (2) | A regional economic education center shall, in principle, be designated for each Metropolitan City, Special Self-Governing City, Do, or Special Self-Governing Province (hereinafter referred to as "City/Do"), but may be designated for each zone combining at least two Cities/Dos, if necessary. <Amended by Act No. 15283, Dec. 26, 2017> |
| (3) | Regional economic education centers shall conduct the following projects: |
| 1. | Training and utilization of regional human resources engaged in economic education; |
| 2. | Development and operation of economic education textbooks and programs tailored to fit regional conditions; |
| 3. | Building and operation of a cooperative network between local governments and regional economic education organizations or among regional economic education organizations; |
| 4. | Economic education for local residents, including underprivileged classes; |
| 5. | Projects entrusted by the heads of central administrative agencies, including the Minister of Strategy and Finance, so as to activate regional economic education; |
| 6. | Other projects necessary for providing economic education adapted to regional conditions. |
| (4) | The State and local governments may subsidize all or some expenses incurred by regional economic education centers in conducting projects referred to in paragraph (3), within budgetary limits. |
| (5) | Requirements for the designation of regional economic education centers, details of support therefor, and other necessary matters, shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree. |
| Article 9-2 (Council for Economic Education Organizations) |
| (1) | Economic education organizations may establish a council for economic education organizations for consultation and coordination for efficient economic education, and enhancement of mutual cooperation. |
| (2) | The State may provide support necessary to encourage the activities of the council for economic education organization. |
[This Article Newly Inserted by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016]
| Article 10 (Entrustment of Duties) |
If necessary for the promotion of economic education, the Minister of Strategy and Finance may entrust some of his/her duties under this Act to corporations or organizations, as prescribed by Presidential Decree.
[This Article Wholly Amended by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016]
| Article 11 (Submission of Performance Reports) |
Each regional economic education center designated under Article 9 shall prepare a report stating the performance of its projects for economic education and submit such report to the Minister of Strategy and Finance after the end of each business year. <Amended by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016>
| Article 11-2 (Submission of Supervisory Reports) |
The Minister of Strategy and Finance shall submit to the Committee a supervisory report, on a semi-annual basis, for propriety of projects conducted by business entities entrusted, where they are entrusted for duties under Article 10. In such cases, the supervisory report shall include matters detailed in each subparagraph of Article 8-2 (1). [This Article Newly Inserted by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016]
| Article 12 (Return of Subsidized Budgets) |
When each regional economic education center designated under Article 9 uses a subsidized budget for purposes other than originally stated purposes or obtains a subsidized budget by fraud or other wrongful means, the State or a local government may order the center to return the full amount or some of the amount of such budget. In such cases, the provisions of the Subsidy Management Act shall apply mutatis mutandis to the procedure for the return of the budget. <Amended by Act No. 10898, Jul. 25, 2011; Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016>
| Article 13 (Revocation of Designation, etc.) |
| (1) | If each regional economic education center designated under Article 9 falls under any of the following cases, the Minister of Strategy and Finance may revoke its designation, or issue an order to suspend its business for a specified period not exceeding six months: Provided, That if it falls under subparagraph 1, such designation shall be revoked: <Amended by Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016> |
| 1. | Where it obtains its designation by fraud or other wrongful means; |
| 2. | Where it fails to meet the requirements for designation; |
| 3. | Where it is deemed to be unable to perform its duties due to poor performance of the duties intentionally or by gross negligence. |
| (2) | The Minister of Strategy and Finance shall hold a hearing, where each designation is revoked under paragraph (1). |
| (3) | Detailed standards for revocation of designation and suspension of business, referred to in paragraph (1), shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree. |
ADDENDA
| (1) | (Enforcement Date) This Act shall enter into force three months after the date of its promulgation. |
| (2) | (Transitional Measures) Any institution or organization who performs the duties of a regional economic education center, which are entrusted by the Minister of Strategy and Finance, at the time this Act enters into force, shall be deemed a regional economic education center under this Act. |
ADDENDA <Act No. 10898, Jul. 25, 2011>
Article 1 (Enforcement Date)
This Act shall enter into force three months after the date of its promulgation.
Articles 2 through 5 Omitted.
ADDENDUM <Act No. 13815, Jan. 27, 2016>
This Act shall enter into force three months after the date of its promulgation.
ADDENDUM <Act No. 15283, Dec. 26, 2017>
This Act shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation.