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A Study on the Improvements of the Act on Arboretums and Gardens to Promote the Garden Industry and Culture
  • Issue Date 2020-06-30
  • Page 120
  • Price 7,000
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Ⅰ. Backgrounds and Purposes
▶ As the desire for cultural enjoyment increases with the rising income level, gardens have evolved into spaces in various forms, such as indoor gardens and rooftop gardens, that can offer recreation, experience, education, and food in connection with daily life, rather than being limited to the outside space of houses.
▶ Since the International Garden Exposition was held in Suncheon under the theme of “Garden of Earth, Suncheon Bay” in 2013, gardens were added to the existing “Act on Arboretums,” which was amended into the “Act on the Creation and Furtherance of Arboretums and Gardens (hereinafter referred to as the ”Act on Arboretums and Gardens”) in 2015.
▶ The concept of the garden defined in the Act on Arboretums and Gardens does not fully represent its meaning, and garden-related matters follow the structure and contents for arboretums, so it is necessary to devise improvement plans to promote the garden culture and industry. 
 
Ⅱ. Major Content 
▶ Significance of gardens and need for regulations
○ According to Article 2 of the Act on Arboretums and Gardens, the term garden means “any space in which plants, soil and stones, facilities (including artworks) etc. are continuously managed by displaying, placing, cultivating, or tending them.” However, spaces such as cultural properties under the “Cultural Heritage Protection Act,” natural parks under the “Natural Parks Act”, and city parks under the “Act on Urban Parks, Green Areas, Etc.” are excluded from gardens.  
○ Similar concepts of the garden include landscaping, natural parks, urban parks, urban farming, etc., which are subject to policies based on independent laws. It is necessary to establish the relationship between gardens and spaces of similar concepts.
○ Gardens have a variety of functions, such as healing, space for communication and exchange, climate control, reduction of fine dust, job creation, education, improvement of the appearance of cities and buildings, and demand for the creation and management of gardens has increased rapidly as the quality of life has improved.
○ The purpose of the legal regulations on gardens is not to “regulate” the garden itself or the garden industry, but to support or promote the functions of gardens. Therefore, it is required to have various means and methods to promote the industry and culture in accordance with the legislative model of the “promotion act system.”
▶ Problems and improvement directions of the law on gardens
○ The “Act on Arboretums and Gardens”, which regulates gardens, needs to be examined from two main perspectives. One is to examine the relationship between the “Act on Arboretums and Gardens” and “relationships with other laws,” that is, the relationship between gardens and similar institutions prescribed by other laws. The other is to examine the system of the “Act on Arboretums and Gardens” itself, that is, the system and contents regarding the relationship between arboretums and gardens as stipulated by this law. 
○ It is questionable whether the purpose of pursuing various policies promoted by other ministries is essentially different. If the legal basis of each similar policy is different, even though coordination is necessary at the stage of establishing the relationship between the laws, there is a question of whether it is appropriate to collectively deduct different concepts when defining a term.
○ An arboretum is a facility that collects, proliferates, preserves, manages, and exhibits the genetic resources of forest trees and conducts academic and industrial research for utilizing the resources. Although the facility has a completely different purpose and character from the garden, it was “inserted” into the system and contents of the arboretum by adding the garden to the existing Act on Arboretums.
○ Individual provisions in the “Act on Arboretums and Gardens” need improvements, such as the re-establishment of the concept of the garden, diverse classifications of gardens, revision of procedures including the designation of national gardens, and registration of local gardens, and training of professionals to promote the garden industry and culture.
▶ Consideration of foreign legislations related to gardens
○ Although we have examined foreign legislative cases as to whether there are positive laws on gardens in an independent, self-complete legislative form, whether there have been normative definitions of gardens, and whether there are laws involving support for the garden industry or culture, it was not easy to find legislative cases that institutionalize the entire garden category like South Korea’s “Act on Arboretums and Gardens.”
○ France’s “Code rural et de la pêche maritime” stipulates a system called the Family Garden(Jardins familiaux) that allows individuals to join an association and pay contributions to use a certain amount of land as a garden so that they can receive technical support from the association and tax benefits from the country. Recently, a legislative bill on the Integration Garden(Jardins d’insertion) for the integration of the socially disadvantaged as well as the Shared Garden(Jardins partagés) as a space for social activities among local residents has been submitted(Legislation was not approved).
▶ The relevant policies and legislation (Act on Arboretums and Gardens) should be improved so that the garden can align with a direction that promotes social participation and activities with diverse purposes and themes, rather than being just about a personal hobby or gardening.
 
Ⅲ. Expected Effects
▶ This study on legislative improvements of legislation on the “garden” in the Act on Arboretums and Gardens is significant in that it has explored the field that has only been evaluated historically and culturally and rarely studied from an academic and, in particular, legal point of view. 
▶ Examining related systems, such as parks and landscaping, without being limited to the concept of the garden, will pave the way for understanding the differences between various systems with similar purposes and establishing an accurate scope of each system to deepen the relevant logic and grounds in the future.
▶ Clarifying the concept of the garden and the category of its industrialization or the target of promotion, and suggesting legislative improvements as the means and methods are expected to help secure the uniformity and consistency of related policies and to concentrate the effects of the policies.