Case on the Prohibited Entry Signs of Billiard Halls

[5-1 KCCR 365, 92Hun-Ma80, May 13, 1993]

A. Background of the Case

In this case, the Court struck down the relevant part of the attached Table 1 of Article 5 of the Enforcement Rules of the Installation and Utilization of Sports Facilities Act that required billiard halls to post signs prohibiting minors under a certain age from entering.

Attached Table 1 of Article 5 of the aforementioned Enforcement Rules regulates the facility, equipment, safety management, and sanitation standards of sports facilities, and requires operators of billiard halls "to post a notice on the entrance door prohibiting persons under eighteen from entering."

The complainant was operating a billiard hall after obtaining a certificate of registration for sports facilities from the Mayor of Seoul pursuant to the Installation and Utilization of Sports Facilities Act, and filed a constitutional complaint arguing that the above provision infringed upon his fundamental rights.

B. Summary of the Decision

The Constitutional Court held that requiring persons operating billiard parlors to post a sign on the entrance door of the parlors, prohibiting the entry of minors under eighteen, violated the Constitution.

Attached Table 1 of Article 5 of the Enforcement Rules of the Installation and Utilization of Sports Facilities Act directly imposes the duty to post a notice on the entrance door, effectively eliminating persons under eighteen from the billiard hall’s clientele. This infringes the freedom of operators of billiard halls to perform their occupational functions.

The duty to post a notice prohibiting the entry of minors under eighteen, which effectively limits the clientele to a certain extent, is applied only to billiard halls. This is a discrimination against operators of billiard halls, as opposed to operators of other facilities, and thus violates the right to equality.

Further, such restriction or ban on entry into billiard halls should be imposed by a statute or a regulation authorized by a statutory mandate that specifies the concrete scope of the regulation. However, the above provision regulates matters

that have not been delegated to it by its parental statute, and thus deviates from the scope of delegation.

C. Aftermath of the Case

Some opposed this decision, citing the possibility of youths engaging in delinquent behavior in billiard halls and the negative effects that access to billiard halls might have on their education (Kukmin Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo, May 14, 1993). Others found that the problems were in the delinquent acts related to billiards, and that the act of playing billiards per se should be permitted to youths (The Korea Economic Daily, May 15, 1993).

The Enforcement Rules of the Installation and Utilization of Sports Facilities Act was wholly amended by the Ministry of Culture and Sports Order No. 12, on June 17, 1994, upon which the facility standards for sports facilities by type, originally prescribed in the attached Table 1 of Article 5, was moved to the attached Table 4 of Article 8. In addition, the part requiring billiard halls to “post a notice prohibiting the entry of persons under eighteen on the entrance door” was removed.

On February 29, 1996, in the decision for 94Hun-Ma13 and 94Hun-Ma213, the Constitutional Court held as constitutional Article 5 Item 6 of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Regulation of Amusement Businesses Affecting Public Morals that prohibited persons under eighteen from entering karaoke machine parlors (noraebang). The Court found that the entry ban did not infringe the freedom of occupation or right to equality of operators of karaoke machine parlors, since it had been placed with due consideration of the typical ambience of such venues and the mental and physical maturity of juveniles.

On February 3, 2005, the Court held that Article 32 Item 4 of the Sound Records, Video Products, and Game Software Act, which required general game rooms to separately install and manage game products permitted for use by all and those permitted for use by persons aged eighteen and higher, and to post a sign prohibiting the entry of juveniles into areas where games permitted to those aged 18 and higher, did not infringe upon the freedom of occupation of game room operators for it fulfilled the purpose of protecting juveniles (2003Hun-Ma930).