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A Study on Securing Age Standards on Legislations and the Connectivity with Policy
  • Issue Date 2018-02-28
  • Page 231
  • Price 9,000
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Ⅰ. Backgrounds and Purposes
▶ Diversity and problems of age standards on legislations
○ In individual laws and ordinances in Korea, diverse age standards are used in defining the target of application such as child, juvenile, minor, youth, and the elderly.
○ The age standard is important as it defines the target of policy application. However, the fact that the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family have been using different age standards for the same subject is causing confusion.
○ The different age standards can cause inefficiency such as making duplicate policies and targets and creating the blind spot. Therefore, the change of age standards needs to be considered in accordance with the times.
▶ Necessity of the study on securing age standards on legislations and the connectivity with policy
○ Although there have been many studies on the problems of legislative age standards and the improvement measures, the legislation has not been improved because of the absence of a comprehensive review of legal and policy aspects of the age standards. 
○ This study aims to improve the age standards through comparing and examining the standards from the legislative aspect by dividing the current standards into the former half and the latter half of life according to life cycle, analyzing the characteristics of each age group and the moment of transition empirically, and collecting opinions from the experts. 
Ⅱ. Major Content 
▶ Examination of the current age standards
○ In the former half of life : infant, child, juvenile, youth
- A range of age among baby, infant, and toddler is not clearly defined on legislations. In addition, the definition of children is used differently in each laws and ordinances. Therefore, it is necessary to redefine the period of a toddler or an infant.
- Since the age standard related to the definition of a child is complicated without the consistency and uniformity of the criteria and scope, being duplicated with the definition of a juvenile, and the age of the juvenile is defined differently according to the purpose of the individual law, the age standards should be revised to prevent blind spot. 
- Regarding the youth age, adjustment of the age range is needed to promote the employment policy and policies other than employment. 
○ In the latter half of life: the elderly, the aged
- 「Welfare of the Aged Act」 does not define the age for the elderly people, but it mentions various support such as life support, preferential treatment for the senior citizens, and health checkup for those aged 65 and above.
- As 「Long-Term Care Insurance for the Aged Act」 defines the elderly people aged 65 and above as its target, people aged 65 and above are considered to be the main targets of the elderly policy in general. As such, the age of the elderly is not clearly defined on legislations, and in general, those aged 65 and over are the subjects of the elderly policy, and the terms ‘the elderly’ and ‘the aged’ are used jointly. 
- As such, the age of the elderly is not clearly defined on legislations, and in general, those aged 65 and over are the subjects of the elderly policy, and the terms ‘the elderly’ and ‘the aged’ are used jointly. 
▶ Legislative definition of age for the former half of life and measures to connect with policies 
○ Analysis of the characteristics of the former half of life and age transition point
- As a result of analyzing whether the current age definition correctly reflects the characteristics of the former half of life from the perspective of individual awareness, acquisition and loss of social role, and functional age, it is confirmed that there are gaps between legal definition and the reality. 
○ Analysis of the legislative cases for the former half of life in foreign countries
- Germany covers the former half of life in the Child and Youth Support Law. It defines a child aged 14 and under, juvenile aged between 14 and 18, and youth aged between 18 and 27.
- In Japan, Child Welfare Law, Juvenile Law, and Labor Standards Act define the age for the people in the former half of life. Child and Youth Support Law does not define the age, but its basic plan defines a child aged 18 and under, youth aged between 18 and 30, and juvenile aged 30 and under.
- Finland enacts Youth Law embracing the former half of life. It defines youth aged 29 and under, and its individual laws and ordinances have different age definition. 
- In conclusion, these three countries regard child, juvenile, or adolescent as a person aged under 18 and they are promoting policy covering the former half of life. 
○ Legislative definition of age in the former half of life and considerations of linkage to policy
- Considering statistical data, overseas cases, and experts opinions on the age definition, children are in their early teens (12-13 years old), juveniles are in their early teens and mid teens (12, 13 years old~18,19 years old), youths are in their twenties and early thirties (18,19 years old~29,31 years old). 
- First of all, we need to adjust the concept of the policy object that causes confusion. It is necessary to adjust the age that causes confusion with an infant among the concept of a child.
- The concept of the child and the juvenile are being considered as substitute for the concept of ‘child’ and ‘under aged’, which are legal terms using different names from infant, child, and juvenile.
- It is the most ideal way to enact an integrated law for the former half of life and to revise the age definition step by step, while respecting the age definition of the current laws or ordinances through adding the lead cause.
- In case of establishing an integrated legislation, we suggest an establishment of a law encompassing the former half of life from the child to the juvenile and an amendment to the existing Framework Act on Juveniles by integrating the juveniles and the youth. 
- Revising the age definition of an individual laws and ordinances is more practical way. It can be considered to enact Framework Act on Youth while maintaining the current legal system and to distinguish the age definition of a child, juvenile, and youth like Germany. 
▶ Legislative definition of age for the latter half of life and measures to connect with policies
○ Analysis of the characteristics of the elderly and age transition point
- As a result of analyzing the indicators that can be referenced in setting the age standards for the elderly from a macro perspective, it is found that the number of population, the population ratio, and the old age support ratio are constantly increasing and the economic activity participation ratio is also increasing regardless of gender. 
- As a result of studying from micro perspective such as individual awareness, acquisition and loss of social role, and functional age, over 80 percent of people regard the elderly as a person aged over 70 showing a gap with the current elderly standards. Number of the elderly people who can drive has been increasing since 2014, and their employment rate has been continuously decreasing. An ability of achievement of daily living and cognition ability are similar. As the age increases, self-reliance ratio decreases and the incidence of incomplete cognition increases. 
○ Analysis of the legislative cases for the elderly in foreign countries
- Germany defines Standard Age of Retirement in the 6th book of Social Code and links it to pension payment. Various welfare supports are also based on this code.
- In Japan, the Basic Old-age Pension is payed to the elderly reaching the age of 65 under the National Pensions Act. Old-age Welfare Law defines the elderly as a person aged 65 and over. 
- In some countries such as the United States, the retirement age is not defined by law because of age discrimination. Pension age remains at 65 for many countries, but it is gradually extending considering the increase of life expectancy. 
○ Legislative age definition of the elderly and considerations of linkage to policies
- In the expert survey, the reasonable average age of the elderly was 67 and over. 44.4 percent of people answered that the average age should be raised to 70. 
- Legislative age of the elderly should be set while considering the policy effect related to welfare benefits, age discrimination, and fiscal spending, rather than establishing a uniform age, and national consensus should be reached through the democratic procedures. 
- In regard of social welfare, the current elderly age needs to be maintained that compensates the blind spot of social welfare until the socio-economic situation of the elderly improves. In regard of social participation, it is necessary to design a policy that extends or abolishes the retirement age in order to prevent age discrimination and to guarantee active and productive old age. 
- After the socio-economic situation is improved in the long term, it will be needed to revise the elderly age upward, to guarantee the socio-economic participation, and to secure financial stability and sustainability of the old age income security system. 
▶ Improvement measures for the legislative age standards and its policy connectivity
○ Regarding the former half of life, it is necessary to revise legal terms using different names from an infant, a child, and a juvenile. Regarding age duplication of child and juvenile, the necessity of revision should be carefully examined considering the age of majority under the civil law and the purpose of the individual laws. 
○ In terms of legislation, it can be considered to enact an integrated law for the former half of life in order to prevent unnecessary age duplication and renew the age definition to prevent creating blind spot. However, this can be unrealistic plan considering the relationship with existing acts and ordinances. 
○ To sum up, it is more realistic to revise the age standards of the individual laws and ordinances while maintaining the current legal system. It is proposed that the age under 18 is classified as infant, child, and juvenile, and the age over 18 is classified as juvenile and youth. 
○ Since the age standards of the elderly are closely related to welfare benefits, age discrimination, and fiscal spending, it is necessary to make national consensus through democratic procedures in order to change the current standards, considering various factors comprehensively.
○ Regarding the maintenance of the elderly age, it is necessary to consider social participation such as social security and employment. Therefore, in consideration of the socio-economic situation of the elderly people, the age standards related to social security needs to be remained while supplementing the blind spots. For social participation, extending or abolishing of the retirement age need to be considered to prevent age discrimination and to guarantee an active and productive elderly life. 
Ⅲ. Expected Effects
▶ Academic contribution
○ This study can be used as the guidelines for setting the age standards on legislations, through examining legal issues related to the establishment of the age standards, studying the various age standards existing on the current law, and analyzing the related problems.
▶ Policy contribution
○ By examining the feasibility and effectiveness of the age standards through the complete enumeration survey on the current laws and ordinances, it provides legislative improvement plans on the establishment of the age standards. As a result, it can be used as the references for the future government legislation establishment.