A Study on the Energy Legislation for the Establishment of Energy Security
Authors:   National Public Law Review, Kwon Kyoung Sun 
Published: June 2023

Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the global economy is experiencing inflation that has not been experienced since the 1970s. Prior to the Russo-Russian War, Europe imported coal, oil, and natural gas from Russia, including about 30% of oil, 43% of natural gas, and 54% of coal. Since the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Agreement, the EU has focused on realizing “carbon neutrality” to cope with climate change as the main direction of energy policy. Germany has implemented a coal policy in the power generation sector by 2030 to realize nuclear power plants by shutting down all existing nuclear facilities by 2022 and reducing contaminated fossil fuels, and increased the proportion of natural gas with less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the electricity production rate through renewable energy sources has been increased to about 40%. Until the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Europe, including Germany, implemented these energy policies, but did not recognize relying on Russian energy as a major risk to Europe's energy security. However, in the wake of the Russo-Russian War, the direction of energy policy that has been pursued is rapidly changing, along with raising fundamental and serious questions about the direction of energy policy in Europe. Next, we will look at what “energy security” should not be overlooked in energy legislation, and the recent changes in Europe's energy policy direction based on energy security, and then look at the direction our energy legislation should take from the perspective of energy security. In order to ensure energy supply stability, it is necessary to have a balanced energy mix, secure various suppliers, and utilize stockpiles well. In addition, since it is difficult to recognize the importance of energy supply stability during peacetime, it is important to establish a management system for supply stability and prevent risks. Therefore, in this paper, we tried to think about how our energy legislation should be improved to ensure energy security. First, it is necessary to give the status of the basic law to the Energy Act, which defines the concept of “energy security,” and to regulate energy security in a balanced manner. Currently, the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality has the status of a basic law among energy-related laws, because it regulates only sustainability and stability among the concepts of “energy security” and does not regulate energy supply stability at all. Second, it is necessary to establish the relationship between the 「Special Act on National Resources Security」 and the 「Energy Act」. It is necessary to establish a relationship because the functions and roles of the Resource Security Committee of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Energy Committee of the Ministry of Trade, and Energy stipulated in Article 6 of the Special Act on National Resource Security. It may also be possible to consider the direction of integrating roles by establishing a (tentative) Resource and Energy Committee. Third, it is necessary to establish the relationship between the 「Framework Act on Supporting Supply Chain Stabilization for Economic Security」 and the 「Special Act on National Resource Security」. The two bills are laws made to prevent supply chain crises and have similar legal systems and functions. However, the 「Framework Act on Supporting Supply Chain Stabilization for Economic Security」 presents basic principles and systems in supply chain-related laws by governing the country's overall supply chain management system, so it is reasonable to have the Prime Minister as the general manager. We hope that the legislation that guarantees energy security and resource security will be well maintained to overcome the global supply chain crisis.