Advising on proposed legislative amendments and personal information protection for the construction worker electronic card system

We reviewed the legal soundness of, and proposed improvements to, draft amendments to the relevant act and its subordinate regulations aimed at managing construction workers' employment records and making the electronic card system more effective.

The matter involved legal questions on issuing electronic cards, the obligation to use them, the use of clock-in and clock-out data, the introduction of facial recognition technology, and data sharing among the relevant agencies.

The main issues were how to define the obligations of employers and workers regarding issuing electronic cards and installing card readers, and whether the basis for using and providing electronic card usage data was consistent with personal information protection law.

The legal basis for processing biometric data through facial recognition, the permissible scope of information sharing among the relevant agencies, and the removal of card readers and the data protection obligations after construction ends were also reviewed.

We analyzed the draft amendments to the Construction Workers Act and its Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules, and reviewed the consistency between the obligation provisions and the sanction provisions, the scope of delegation from the higher-level statute, and the personal information protection issues.

In particular, we reviewed the legal basis for and level of regulation of processing biometric data such as facial recognition, and analyzed whether the provisions on information sharing among the relevant agencies and on the removal of card readers were appropriate.

We proposed adjusting employers' obligations relating to issuing electronic cards to fit actual operations, and strengthening the legal basis for using electronic card usage data and the overall consistency of the related laws.

We also provided legal opinions on clarifying the legal basis for facial recognition technology, appropriately regulating information sharing among the relevant agencies, and personal information protection measures when card readers are removed.