Featured summary (40–60 words for Google snippet): On 1 June 2026, Korea’s government released a coordinated June policy package. The Ministry of Government Legislation summarised 81 new laws taking effect this month, the Public Procurement Service lowered barriers for AI products in public tenders, and the Personal Information Protection Commission launched MyData for the energy sector. Together they signal a single-day pivot toward protected innovation.
1. Ministry of Government Legislation — 81 new laws in June, four headline changes
The Ministry of Government Legislation (head: Cho Won-chul) announced on 1 June that 81 new laws will take effect in June 2026, four of which directly reshape citizen safety and industrial policy.
- Autonomous-driving video-data expansion (effective 18 June; Autonomous Vehicle Commercialisation Promotion and Support Act). Permit-holders running R&D autonomous vehicles under Article 27 of the Motor Vehicle Management Act may now collect images containing identifiable personal information without mandatory anonymisation or pseudonymisation, on the condition that the data are not used for any other purpose, are protected with technical and managerial safeguards, and are destroyed after five years — including images collected before the law’s entry into force.
- Direct-import safety inspection (effective 3 June; Product Safety Framework Act). The government may now directly conduct safety assessments on goods purchased from overseas e-commerce platforms. If a product fails individual-statute requirements or threatens life, body or property, ministries may ask the Korea Customs Service to return, dispose of or remediate the goods, and may instruct overseas online-marketplace intermediaries to remove the product listing — and publicise the fact.
- State-appointed counsel for victims of serious violent crimes (effective 24 June; Act on Special Cases Concerning Punishment of Specific Violent Crimes). Victims of murder, human trafficking, rape and robbery gain the right to publicly funded counsel. For victims under 19 or victims with physical or mental disabilities affecting decision-making, prosecutors are required to appoint counsel.
- Drone-based disaster response (effective 3 June; Drone Industry Promotion Act). Central and local governments must use drones across the disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery cycle, with statutory backing for financial support.
Primary source: Government of the Republic of Korea — Ministry of Government Legislation press release (2026-06-01).
2. Public Procurement Service — multiple-supplier rules rewritten to open public tenders to AI products
On the same day, the Public Procurement Service (administrator: Baek Seung-bo) amended two administrative rules — the Multiple Award Schedule Administration Regulation and the Multiple Award Schedule Special Conditions — to rebalance public procurement around competition and emerging-industry access.
- Two-step competition expanded. Requesting agencies may now apply two-step competition even below the previous thresholds (KRW 50 million for general goods, KRW 100 million for SME-competitive goods).
- Origin documentation tightened. Goods declared as ‘Republic of Korea’ origin must submit a domestic-origin certificate.
- Advance-payment recovery clause added. Suppliers that received advance payments and fail to complete delivery before the advance-payment guarantee expires must repay the advance.
- Public-procurement-manager qualification bonus. Firms with a certified Public Procurement Manager qualification receive bonus points in performance-capability evaluations.
- AI-product entry barriers cut three ways: (i) the KRW 30 million track record threshold is abolished; (ii) the minimum number of registered suppliers drops from 3 to 2; (iii) suppliers may submit their own specification instead of a national standard. Credit-rating certificate submission is waived.
The amendments enter into force on 1 January 2027 because of internal system upgrades — except for the AI-product entry-barrier package, which goes live on 1 August 2026 to align with the Framework Act on Artificial Intelligence enforcement decree. Administrator Baek said the goal was “to extend healthy competition while building a path for AI and other new-industry firms to enter without being blocked by regulation.”
Primary source: Government of the Republic of Korea — Public Procurement Service press release (2026-06-01).
3. Energy MyData goes live — a portable right over gas and electricity data
The Personal Information Protection Commission (chair: Song Kyung-hee) launched the energy-sector MyData regime on 1 June 2026, the second sector to roll out under Korea’s nationwide MyData (data-portability) framework after medical care and telecommunications, which went live on 13 March 2025. Energy joins ten priority sectors — medical, telecommunications, energy, education, employment, culture and leisure, welfare, transportation, real estate and distribution — to be opened in phases.
- Data senders: city-gas operators, the Korea Electric Power Corporation, and other energy suppliers.
- Transferable data: gas and electricity consumption, billing data and energy-use records — high-impact household data.
- Notices in force: the joint MOTIE-PIPC Gas Personal-Information Transfer Notice and the joint Ministry of Climate-PIPC Electricity Personal-Information Transfer Notice were both issued on 1 June.
- Downstream services: personalised energy-saving services, tariff-optimisation tools and carbon-neutral support services are expected to launch off this data layer.
- Alternative credit scoring: NICE Information Service is targeting a year-end launch of an alternative credit-scoring product built on energy-payment MyData, addressed at thin-file consumers (jobseekers, early-career workers, older adults).
- Intermediary: Korea Energy Agency is designated to act as the relay agency once the transfer infrastructure is fully built out.
“Implementing MyData in the energy sector strengthens citizens’ data sovereignty,” Chair Song said. “We will keep expanding so that people can feel the value of MyData in everyday life.”
Primary source: Government of the Republic of Korea — Personal Information Protection Commission press release (2026-06-01).
4. International context — Korea’s policy bet
The three announcements sit at the intersection of three global debates. First, autonomous-driving data: the EU’s Automated Vehicles Regulation and California’s AV regulations both wrestle with the use of identifiable footage for AI training; Korea’s answer is a sector-specific exemption paired with mandatory five-year destruction. Second, cross-border e-commerce safety: the EU’s GPSR (in force since December 2024) and US CPSC discussions on overseas marketplaces frame the same problem; Korea now grants its central ministries the power to request return, disposal or correction and to publicise warnings. Third, data portability: the EU’s Data Act takes effect in September 2025 with sector-by-sector application; Korea’s phased rollout (medical and telecoms in 2025, energy on 1 June 2026, eight further sectors to follow) is a parallel architecture. The Korean approach is striking for sequencing: the data-portability layer is being built sector by sector rather than via a single horizontal regulation.
5. What this means for citizens, businesses and developers
For citizens, the cross-border safety inspection regime is the most immediate change — consumers buying from overseas platforms gain a public backstop against unsafe products. For AI startups, the August 2026 entry-barrier cuts are decisive: removing the KRW 30 million track-record requirement and lowering the three-supplier threshold mean an early-stage company can land its first public tender without scaffolding artificial qualifying sales. For energy and fintech firms, MyData turns gas and electricity payment data into a regulated, portable asset — and an alternative credit-scoring channel for thin-file consumers. For autonomous-driving R&D teams, the new video-data exemption removes a long-standing constraint, in exchange for a hard five-year destruction clock that travels backward in time.
6. Related coverage
For continuity with the previous day’s welfare and consumer-protection package, see our coverage: Government one-year wrap-up: welfare, suicide-prevention and consumer protection package.
RSS source links — Ministry of Government Legislation: https://www.korea.kr/briefing/pressReleaseView.do?newsId=156764632&call_from=rsslink · Public Procurement Service: https://www.korea.kr/briefing/pressReleaseView.do?newsId=156764635&call_from=rsslink · Personal Information Protection Commission: https://www.korea.kr/briefing/pressReleaseView.do?newsId=156764611&call_from=rsslink.