Foreign Investment Ombudsman

The Foreign Investment Ombudsman (외국인투자 옴부즈만) is a specialist who helps foreign investors solve grievance and difficulties in doing business in Korea. The Ombudsman's office is located in the Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).

Key words
foreign direct investment (FDI), Ombudsman, ISD, grievance settlement body

Foreign Investment Ombudsman
The Foreign Investment Ombudsman is commissioned from among the persons of abundant learning and experience in the foreign investment business for the purpose of supporting the affairs of grievance settlement in foreign-invested companies.

Main responsibilities of the Foreign Investment Ombudsman include:
 * assigning Home Doctors to foreign-invested companies and providing support in grievance resolution efforts;
 * resolving grievances through cooperation with the government and relevant government agencies and proposing relevant policies;
 * encouraging system improvements and legal amendments by serving on the Foreign Investment Committee, Foreign Investment Working Committee, Presidential Council on National Competitiveness, and Regulatory Reform Committee;
 * inducing reinvestment by foreign-invested companies; and
 * taking preemptive measures to prevent future grievances and improving Korea's investment environment.

Strengths of Korea's Foreign Investment Ombudsman system
In Korea, no case of Investor State Dispute (ISD) has ever been filed, thanks to the operation of the Foreign Investment Ombudsman system.

ISD experts participating in the APEC ISD workshop held in Washington D.C. in November 2008 assessed that Korea maintains a sound ISD environment through the Foreign Investment Ombudsman system and grievance settlement body.

The Foreign Investment Ombudsman system not only provides aftercare services for foreign investors by resolving their grievances, but also serves to prevent future grievances from arising by improving Korea's investment environment.

In order to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the aftercare services, the Home Doctors, experts in diverse fields, provide foreign-invested companies with on-site support and assistance, based on the knowhow and expertise accumulated over the past 10 years.

One-on-one assistance provided by the Home Doctors allows foreigninvested companies to practically enjoy one-stop services, maximizing the effectiveness of on-site assistance. The Home Doctors also earn the trust of foreign-investors by keeping any sensitive information concerning grievances strictly confidential.

The Home Doctors also play an important role in bridging government bodies, especially those responsible for granting permissions and licenses, and foreign-invested companies that often have a tendency to avoid direct contact with the government.

Given the outstanding achievements of the Office of the Foreign Investment Ombudsman, many international organizations, such as the UNCTAD-WAIPA, Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), and the World Bank visited Korea to benchmark the Foreign Investment Ombudsman system.

Grievance Settlement Body
The grievance settlement body was established on October 26, 1999 upon Article 15(8) of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act to improve Korea's investment environment by eliminating obstacles to the business operation of foreign-invested companies and resolving their grievances.

Assistance Offered by Grievance Settlement Body
When a foreign-invested company files a grievance, the grievance settlement body, headed by the Foreign Investment Ombudsman, assigns one of the Home Doctors, experts in a variety of fields including finance, taxation, law, construction, accounting, and IT to the filing company to provide one-on-one assistance in resolving the grievance.

In addition to offering advice and consultations on simple management issues, the Home Doctors also actively seek to help resolve more complicated legal and administrative issues through on-site visits, e-mail, and other various means on-line.

In addition to handling grievances filed by individual companies, the grievance settlement body organizes the Job Fair for Foreign-invested Companies, the CEO Forum for Foreign-invested Companies, and various meetings with foreign investors as part of an effort to address difficulties more commonly experienced by foreign-invested companies.

Grievance Resolution Process
Once a grievance is filed by a foreign-invested company, it is first examined by a Home Doctor before resolutions to the problem are sought under the direction of the Foreign Investment Ombudsman.

In case that resolving the grievance requires an improvement of a system or administrative intervention, the Home Doctor discusses the grievance raised by the foreign investor with relevant government agencies.

After these discussions and the Foreign Investment Ombudsman's final review of the issue, recommendations for the resolution of the grievance are formally submitted to the relevant government bodies.