Independent Administrative Agencies Research Articles

방송통신위원회의 독립성과 중립성에 관한 연구

The Korea Communications Commission was established to deal with new problems occurring in the face of changes in the media environment, specifically the blending of broadcasting and communications, and it can be considered an independent administrative agency. Such organizations characteristically have an autonomous aspect that is distinguishable from the hierarchy of traditional administrative organizations due to the professionalism and the neutrality that is expected in the execution of their respective fields, though the specific forms may not all be the same considering they may be shaped by the historical experience of individual countries in order to meet realistic needs. Regarding policies related to broadcasting and communications, the establishment and operation of the Korea Communications Commission is significant in terms of the guarantee of constitutional freedom of speech and the press. The Korea Communications Commission is expected to perform an autonomous function in its particular business area, but with the establishment of a relationship with the existing administrative system, it will take more than simply emphasizing that independent characteristic to achieve the best results. Although one aspect of this independent characteristic is to keep an already powerful government in check, realizing functional harmony with the government’s organizational system should also be considered given that the smooth execution of the institution’s original duties is also the main purpose of its establishment. The Commission must implement specific measures to strengthen professionalism to enhance its independence and neutrality, along with securing the democratic legitimacy of its institutional composition.

프랑스의 공중보건 위기대응과 위원회의 역할

Needs for effective and prompt actions in public administration of contemporary nations call for almost inevitably diversified and specialized managements in the form of committee system. It is frequently employed by many nations, more prominently in the field of science and technology. Second half of the 20th century saw to it that science drove the flow of the national economy, culminating in intensive developments including international standardization in various fields. Above all, the constitutional basis for this was established finally. and the National Science and Technology Advisory Council Act was enacted in 1991 to provide advice on innovation in science and technology. With the institutional framework on this matter being established, for instance, in the event of infectious diseases such as the coronavirus comes infectious, expert scientific opinion is required mandatory prior to the government's policy formulation and execution. By now the ptactice is solid, and the advices and technical opinions in almost all cases are formed by way of committees. In France, in order to maintain public health in general and respond to crises such as the recent pandemic like Corvid-19, the Ministry of Health is responsible for healthcare policy formulation, execution of it, and let alone research and development. The last part, R&D is shared by an independent administrative agency, the Higher Health Agency, along with various technical institutes and networks of healthcare professionals. In particular in view of the gravity of the Corvid-19 problem the government established a temporary organization on top of the 120-year-old Higher Committee on Public Health and the National Ethics Advisory Committee, which deals with ethical issues and other existing committees. These organizations seek and strive for transparency and fairness in their activities through committee composition, disclosure of committee activities, oaths of professional ethics of members, and ensuring citizen participation.

Comment on “Japan's Higher Education Policies under Global Challenge”

Comment on “Japan's Higher Education Policies under Global Challenge”

Hospital Management and Public Health Role of National Hospitals after Transformation into Independent Administrative Agencies.

The development of medical care, technological advances, and the ageing of society have led to rising medical costs. As a result, there is a demand to improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery systems, including public healthcare institutions, in order to ensure the sustainability of healthcare functions. In 2004, as part of national civil service reform in Japan, national hospitals were merged in order to form the National Hospital Organization (NHO). The NHO used new public management methods and was required to be self-financing and to maintain critical functions under a five-year management plan. The objective of this study was to examine whether the NHO was able to maintain its key function in the national infrastructure in terms of management. An analysis of the business conditions of the NHO was performed based on the financial statements from FY 2004 to FY 2018 using evaluation indexes. In the first and second periods, the NHO achieved its targeted management improvements. However, since FY 2014, even with the utmost restrictions on capital investment, the profits have not increased, and the free cash flow has been negative. Our results suggest that further organizational reforms are needed in order to sustain the NHO infrastructure in the long term and to withstand health crisis management during periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The System and Human Resources for Occupational Health in Republic Of Indonesia for Japanese Enterprises to Manage Proper Occupational Health Activities at Overseas Workplaces

To consider the appropriate occupational health system for Japanese enterprises in Indonesia with information on the regulations and development of the specialists. In this study, we used the information-gathering checklist developed by Kajiki et al. Along with literature and internet surveys, we surveyed local corporations owned and operated by Indonesians, central government agencies in charge of medical and health issues, a Japanese independent administrative agency supporting subsidiaries of overseas Japanese enterprises, and an educational institution formulating specialized occupational physician training curricula. In Indonesia, the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Health administer occupational health matters. The act No. 1 on safety serves as the fundamental regulation. We confirmed at least 40 respective regulations in pertinent areas, such as the placement of medical and health professionals, health examinations, occupational disease, and occupational health service agencies. There are some regulations that indicate only an outline of activities but not details. Occupational physicians and safety officers are the two professional roles responsible for occupational health activities. A new medical insurance system was started in 2014, and a workers' compensation system was also established in 2017 in Indonesia according to the National Social Security System Act. Although safety and health laws and regulations exist in Indonesia, their details are unclear and the quality of expert human resources needed varies. To conduct high-quality occupational health activities from the standpoint of Japanese companies' headquarters, the active promotion of employing highly specialized professionals and cooperation with educational institutions is recommended.

On the Act for Partial Amendment of the Local Autonomy Act and Others (No.54 of 2017)－focusing on Local Independent Administrative Agency Act.

On the Act for Partial Amendment of the Local Autonomy Act and Others (No.54 of 2017)－focusing on Local Independent Administrative Agency Act.

Mass Administrative Reorganization, Media Attention, and the Paradox of Information

AbstractHow does media attention influence government decisions about whether to terminate independent administrative agencies? The authors argue that an agency's salience with partisan audiences has a direct effect, but a high media profile can disrupt normal government monitoring processes and obfuscate termination decisions. This argument is evaluated in the context of a recent mass administrative reorganization by the British coalition government using probit and heteroscedastic probit regression models. The evidence suggests that termination is less likely for agencies salient in newspapers popular with the government's core supporters but not those read by its minority coalition partner. We also find that agencies with greater overall newspaper salience as well as younger agencies have a higher error variance.

Examination for Waste/Soil Leaching Test : Technical Examination/Quality Assessment through Interlaboratory Comparison for Environmental Measurement Certification Business Operators in Hokkaido by Local Independent Administrative Agency Hokkaido Research Organization Industrial Research Institute

Examination for Waste/Soil Leaching Test : Technical Examination/Quality Assessment through Interlaboratory Comparison for Environmental Measurement Certification Business Operators in Hokkaido by Local Independent Administrative Agency Hokkaido Research Organization Industrial Research Institute

The Rulemaking Power of Administrative Agencies: Crisis of Legality, Rule of Law, and Democracy

The actual role of the fourth branch in the triggering of the current economic and financial crisis, together with the recent case law and theoretical developments in the area of regulation, are compelling evidence that a reflection on the powers of independent administrative agencies is critically needed. The importance of such reflection is no less linked to the duties of the regulatory State vis-a-vis the constitutional State – a case in point is when the agencies take on quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative power.Laying special emphasis on this latter aspect, the present study deals with the questions concerning the rulemaking power of regulatory agencies. It reflects the most recent trends in administrative law, and includes an analysis of the relations between the normative layers of contemporary legal systems, the emergence of new regulative frameworks, the loss of the traditional territorial scope by administrative rules, the strengthening of the fourth branch, the balance between consensus and command-and-control, and the dialectics between politics and law.The adopted comparative law perspective intends to profit from the Americanization of European legal systems and the evolution of the U.S. administrative state. Regulations, which are regarded as policy tools of the regulatory state, clearly express the recent mutations in constitutional and administrative law.The significance and scope of regulatory discretion shall be discussed first and then it will be contextualized within the trend toward delegalization. After considering the meanings, forms and expressions of delegalization as well as its consequences to the administrative rulemaking power, the limits of regulatory discretion will be addressed. The A. concludes that the rulemaking power of agencies is now confronted with the very foundations of the constitutional State: Rule of Law, separation of powers, and democracy.

Local Independent Administrative Agency Aomori Prefectual Industrial Technology Research Center, Agriculture Research Institute

Local Independent Administrative Agency Aomori Prefectual Industrial Technology Research Center, Agriculture Research Institute

An empirical analysis of the relationship between individual characteristics and research productivity

This paper provides an analysis of the relationship between research performance and individual characteristics (e.g., career path information) of researchers, based on information provided in the curriculum vitaes of 565 excellent researchers within the life sciences and medical sciences fields in Japan. I specifically analyzed the relationship between the experiences of practical physicians and research performance. As a result, I found that the experience as a practical physician had a statistically positive relationship with the number of research papers, but there was not a significant relationship with the number of citations. Moreover, the diversity of a researcher's career related significantly to the number of citations and patents. An employment experience at a young age with a company or independent administrative agency had a significant and positive relationship with number of coauthors. However, a significant relationship between work experience in a foreign country and research performance was not observed.

Japan’s higher education incorporation policy: a comparative analysis of three stages of national university governance

A number of countries with public higher education systems have implemented privatisation policies. In Japan, the national government introduced the National University Corporation Act (NUCA) in 2004 and changed the legal status of national universities from that of government-owned public institutions to independent administrative agencies. Its objective was to incorporate them, giving their presidents discretionary power and encouraging financial independence and autonomous administration. Applying McNay’s models of university governance, this paper tracks three stages of university governance longitudinally from 1886, when Japan’s modern higher education system was established, to reveal the historical roots of problems that the NUCA is meant to address. In addition, the effects of the NUCA over the first 6-year period (2004–2009) are examined based on data analysis. Its criteria for analysis are developments in the direction of financial, administrative and intellectual independence, accompanied by increased levels of transparency and public accountability.

Designing Independent Regulatory System of Food Safety in China

Abstract Food is closely related to the life and health of people. The establishment of an independent administrative agency for food safety is a bone of contention. The independent administrative agencies are independent from other branches or arms of the government with regard to their basis of legitimacy. Based on the theory of public administration and the economics of regulation, the paper intends to prove that industrial and political pressures on the independent administrative agency are relatively low, making policymakers more accountable to the public. Having analyzed the current food regulatory system in China, the paper points out that it does not actually support the overall goal of the food safety. The purpose of the paper is to bring together the basic principles underlying the successful regulatory system of food safety. In the end the paper makes some suggestions on how to establish the independent regulatory system of food safety in China.

Government Checking Government: How Performance Measures Expand Distributive Politics

This paper argues that distributive politics operates in a variety of contexts in which governments seek to check the behavior of other governments. We provide a novel theoretical account of performance measurement systems as political discipline mechanisms even when measures are compiled by formally independent administrative agencies. We test the implications of our theory using a dataset of performance ratings in English local government assessed between 2002 and 2006. Results suggest that political influence favors swing voters, and local authorities sharing party affiliation with the incumbent central government are favored over those controlled by the opposition. Evidence further suggests that the independent rater in our empirical case is influenced through ties between its membership and the local authorities that it regulates. Our theoretical argument and findings have implications for many national and international contexts.

Government Checking Government: How Performance Measures Expand Distributive Politics

This paper argues that distributive politics operates in a variety of contexts in which governments seek to check the behavior of other governments. We provide a novel theoretical account of performance measurement systems as political discipline mechanisms even when measures are compiled by formally independent administrative agencies. We test the implications of our theory using a dataset of performance ratings in English local government assessed between 2002-2006. Results suggest that political influence favors swing voters, and local authorities sharing party affiliation with the incumbent central government are favored over those controlled by the opposition. Evidence further suggests that the independent rater in our empirical case is influenced through ties between its membership and the local authorities that it regulates. Our theoretical argument and findings have implications for many national and international contexts.

Independent electoral management bodies and international election observer missions: any impact on the observed level of democracy? A conceptual framework

What kind of institutions are needed to stabilize and foster democracy? Clearly elections are crucial and much of the institutional and legal surrounding of elections has been subject to research. Two institutional variables have been neglected though, specifically in empirical research: Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and International Observer Missions (EOMs). Can EMBs and EOMs foster free and fair elections? If yes, under what conditions? And what kind of competences are needed for them? We hypothesize that both can become crucial institutions for free and fair elections. Whereas independent central banks or audit courts control special issue areas in order to take certain decision out of the realm of politics, EMBs control the moment of the set-up of government—the election, when conflicts of interest of politicians are at its peak. Although other kinds of independent administrative agencies have been the subject of political science and economic research, EMBs and EOMs have also been neglected here. This article undertakes to outline a conceptual framework for testing various hypotheses on the institutional set-up of EMBs. Hypothesizing that de iure and de facto independence of EMBs foster fair elections, the detailed institutional set-up of EMBs as independent variable is outlined in order to test for the level of democracy as a dependent variable. Furthermore, the importance of EOMs as well as their interaction effect with EMBs is analyzed. Although by now EOMs are sent to almost any country with elections, their impact has not been analyzed in an encompassing way in spite of that the mission have intensified in their work, have become more costly and their verdicts are gaining ever more publicity.

Was It a Success or a Failure, Introducing the System of Independent Administrative Agency to National Universities in Japan?

Was It a Success or a Failure, Introducing the System of Independent Administrative Agency to National Universities in Japan?

Independence of administrative agencies in the broadcasting sector: the case of the Polish National Broadcasting Council

Appointments of members of independent administrative agencies are claimed to be the most effective tool of retaining political control over these agencies. However, even if politicians hold considerable discretionary power in deciding upon their membership, legal rules ensuring credibility of such appointments cannot be underestimated. The author argues that properly drawn rules may stipulate the necessary prerequisites for making a credible appointment, assure democratic scrutiny in the process of appointments, and stabilize the policy of an agency. An independent administrative agency also seems to be the most effective form of regulating media broadcasting and general network industries. The paper presents key issues regarding their operation in an unstable legal environment on the lines of a Polish case adjudicated by the Constitutional Tribunal, and is also an attempt of drawing some more general conclusions. Independent administrative agencies are often presented as the fourth branch within political systems of modern industrial democracies. The process of strengthening these agencies is ongoing (including sometimes constitutionalization), but it is difficult to assume today that these agencies will emerge as fully distinguished independent branch within the system of separation of powers in the foreseeable future. The last issue presented in this article considers regulation, self-regulation, and co-regulation. The author argues that at least in countries where the principle of subsidiarity was adopted, this principle can be helpful in drawing the borderlines between the area of regulation, self-regulation, and co-regulation.

It Takes Three to Quango: On the Rule-Making Powers of Independent Administrative Agencies ('Quangos')

This short paper, written as part of the Israeli report to the 17th International Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, to be held 16-22 July 2006, Utrecht, The Netherlands is part of a larger work-in-progress concerning comparative administrative law. In this paper I introduce the British concept of a quasi-autonomous nongovernmental institution (Quango) and raise my concern as to whether this form of Non-Departmental (or governmental) Public Body (NDPB, as it is sometimes called) should have been used as a benchmark for the conference reports; then I make a brief presentation of government and non-government actors subject to public law in Israel. These entities fall under four essential categories: (1) Government ministries, where the bulk of Israeli bureaucracy is still concentrated; (2) Government companies: business corporations, essentially operating in the private domain, yet owned or controlled by the government and potentially subject to public law; (3) Statutory corporations created by an organic statute, and under the direct control of a single government branch; these are probably the entities most similar to Quangos in Israeli law; (4) Private entities performing some form of public function, to a degree that, under the jurisprudence developed by the Israeli Supreme Court, they are subjected to public law standards and judicial-administrative review to some degree.

An Analysis of the Constitutional Position of the US Independent Agencies

This paper discusses how the position of independent administrative agencies, with broad regulatory powers, can be reconciled with the US Constitution and how the legitimacy of their regulatory actions can be ensured. The experiences with the problems of legitimacy of US administrative agencies might well contribute to the resolution of questions that arise as regards the constitutional position of (independent) regulatory agencies in the EC Member States.