「자원순환기본법」의 평가와 향후 과제

초록

The Framework Act on Resource Circulation is certainly a step forward to an advanced legal system in accord with resource circulation society. However, the Act has a limit in several aspects. The Act lacks systematic connection to other waste-related laws because it has both characteristics of a framework act and an execution law. There is also a limit to apply the Act as a basic principle to the entire process of design, production, and disposal of product because it merely defines circular resources as a subordinated concept under waste. In other words, the Act has failed to become a comprehensive and fundamental law to establish resource circulation society In order to minimize the side effects, there must be a multilateral approach. First, there is a need to improve the legal system and to re-examine the entire waste related laws so as to minimize the confusion that may arouse as the Act is applied to the real world. In such case, the Act should be the higher, basis law, while the Waste Management Act and the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources should be placed as lower ranking laws each on waste disposal and recycling field. In the long term, we must even consider revising the Act. The concept of circular resources is the key to a society that can circulate its resources well. Because the procedure of ‘admitting circular resources’ deprives of the status of waste and thus excludes from regulation, there is a need to make more objective and clear standard of it for more systematic use and management of circular resources. Meanwhile, there is a need to clarify, expand, and modify the definition of waste itself because the current definition of it is unclear, and the meaning of waste does not encompass the concept of resource. In addition, the existing ‘resources circulation achievement management system’ and ‘designated by-product discharger system’ should either be abolished or integrated with the Assessment of Circular Utilization which is a key device to manage circular resources provided in the Act, as it overlaps with one another.

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