Ahn Byung-han, a lawyer at Hanbyul Law Firm, was a keynote speaker at the Golf Industry Regulation Improvement Forum held at the Korea Sports Science Institute on Jan. 26, where he highlighted the problems with Article 12 of the current Act on the Installation and Use of Sports Facilities. He diagnosed the mandatory approval of golf course business plans by city and provincial governors and the prohibition of non-membership golf courses from converting to memberships as creating excessive entry barriers and administrative inefficiencies.

In particular, the system fails to reflect the rapidly changing market environment, infringing on the autonomy of the industry and hindering the convenience of consumers, and requires reinterpretation and reasonable relaxation from a legal and policy perspective, Ahn said. He plans to review the purpose of the system (securing public interest) from a modern perspective and propose improvements to the system that can simultaneously achieve the public's sports welfare and the sustainable development of the golf industry.

Mr. Ahn's presentation will be refined through a comprehensive discussion with experts from academia, research institutions, and the legal community, and he emphasized that the forum should be a turning point in laying the legal foundation for reorganizing the golf industry into a future-oriented, high-value-added industry.