2014 Violation of the Installation, Maintenance and Safety Control of Fire-Fighting Systems Act

A Stock Company

Park Ho-sung (Court) (Court of Justice), Park Ho-young (Court of Justice), Park Ho-young (Court of Justice), Park Ho-young, Shin Young-young,

Law Firm B

Attorney C, D, and E

December 3, 2015

The defendant shall be innocent.

The facts charged of this case

【Basic Facts】

When a fire safety controller finds that a fire-fighting system, escape facility, fire-fighting facility, fire-fighting partition, etc. violates statutes to protect human life and property, he/she shall, without delay, request an interested person of the objects of fire safety to take necessary measures, such as repair, relocation, removal, repair, etc. of the objects of fire-fighting, and shall notify the head of a fire headquarters

F is an employee of Defendant A who is entrusted with the management of G apartment units from the Korea Land and Housing Corporation's Gyeonggi-si branch office, and a person who was appointed by the said enterprise from March of the same year to August of the same year as the fire safety controller of the above apartment units.

F The reason that all kinds of fire-fighting facilities of the above apartment (main type, terrestrial landscape, emergency broadcasting, automatic fire detection equipment, emergency lighting lights, guiding lights, sprinkler equipment, sprinkler equipment, indoor fire hydrant equipment) are discharged from residents despite the actual occurrence of a fire, F. F. A. A. B. around May 2013, it did not require the head of fire-fighting headquarters to take measures such as the removal, repair, and repair of the above fire-fighting facilities without notifying the fire-fighting headquarters of the ground for the approval of the apartment construction project and the relocation, repair, and repair of the fire-fighting facilities after 20 years from June of the same year, and the location of emergency lighting and fire-fighting equipment of emergency lighting around July of the same year was maintained and managed in an isolated state that could hinder the function and performance of the fire-fighting facilities, and it did not require the fire-fighting headquarters to take measures such as the removal, repair, and repair of the fire-fighting facilities after 20 years from the construction of the apartment construction project.

【Criminal Facts】

The Defendant concluded a housing management entrustment and consignment agreement with the Korea Land and Housing Corporation's Gyeonggi-gu Headquarters, and from February 12, 2013, performed management work of the above apartment, and F, an employee of the Defendant, committed the above violation in relation to the Defendant's business.

Judgment

1. The applicable provisions of this case to prosecution;

The prosecutor prosecuted the defendant by applying Article 52, Article 50 subparagraph 6, and Article 20 (8) of the Installation, Maintenance, and Safety Control of Fire-Fighting Systems Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Fire-Fighting Systems Act") to the above charged facts.

2. Relevant statutes;

○ Article 50 of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act (Penal Provisions)

Any of the following persons shall be punished by a fine not exceeding three million won:

6. A fire safety controller who fails to request necessary measures even though he/she discovers that a fire-fighting system, escape facilities, fire-fighting facilities, fire-fighting partition, etc. violates any statute, in violation of Article 20

○ Article 20(8) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act

When a fire safety controller finds that a fire-fighting system, escape facility, fire-fighting facility, fire-fighting partition, etc. violates statutes to protect human life and property, he/she shall, without delay, request an interested person of the objects of fire safety to take necessary measures, such as the repair, relocation, removal, repair, etc. of the objects of fire-fighting, and where the interested person

○ Article 52 of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act (Joint Penal Provisions)

If the representative of a corporation, or an agent, employee or other servant of the corporation or an individual commits an offence under Articles 48 through 51 in connection with the business of the corporation or the individual, not only shall such offender be punished, but also the corporation or the individual shall be punished by a fine under the relevant provisions: Provided, That this shall not apply where such corporation or individual has not been negligent in giving due attention and supervision concerning the relevant duties to prevent such

○ Article 9 of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act (Maintenance, Management, etc. of Fire-Fighting Systems Installed in Specific Fire-Fighting Objects)

(1) An interested person of a specific fire-fighting object shall install, maintain and manage fire-fighting systems to be equipped in consideration of the size and purpose of use, capacity for accommodation, etc. of the specific fire-fighting object in accordance with the fire safety

(2) If a fire-fighting system referred to in paragraph (1) fails to install, maintain, or manage it in compliance with the fire safety standards under paragraph (1), the director general of the fire-fighting headquarters or the head of the fire station may order

(3) In maintaining and managing a fire-fighting system pursuant to paragraph (1), an interested person of a specific fire-fighting object shall not close (including locking; hereinafter the same shall apply) or shut down, etc. that may disturb the function and performance of the fire-fighting system: Provided, That he/she may close or shut down the fire-fighting system for inspection and maintenance.

○ Article 2 of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act (Definitions)

(1) The terms used in this Act shall be defined as follows:

1. The term "fire-fighting systems" means fire-fighting equipment, alarming equipment, escape equipment, fire-fighting water equipment, and other equipment for fire-fighting activities prescribed by Presidential Decree;

2. The term "fire-fighting systems, etc." means fire-fighting systems, emergency exits, and other fire-fighting-related facilities prescribed by Presidential Decree;

(A). (b)

(2) Except as otherwise expressly provided for in paragraph (1), the terms used in this Act shall be defined by the Framework Act on Fire Services, the Fire-Fighting System Installation Business Act, the Safety Control of Dangerous Substances Act and the Building Act.

3. Specific determination

A. Fire-fighting systems cannot be deemed to violate statutes as stated in facts charged

The prosecutor considers that the fire-fighting systems, etc. stipulated in Articles 50(6) through 20(8) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act are in violation of the laws and regulations as stated in the facts charged that the location of various fire-fighting systems is maintained and managed in a state of blocking all resources that may impede the function and performance of the fire-fighting systems. In addition, according to the records, the prosecutor seems to have maintained the prosecution of this case on the premise that it is Article 9(3) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act that "no person concerned in a specific fire-fighting object shall conduct any act such as closing, blocking, etc. that may impede the function and performance

However, Article 9(3) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act only appears to be a person who is a specific fire-fighting object as an interested person, and the subject of regulation is an act such as closure or blocking by the interested person, and it is interpreted that it does not directly target fire-fighting facilities. Therefore, it cannot be viewed that the fire-fighting systems, etc., prescribed in Article 50 subparag. 6 and Article 20(8) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act, merely because an interested person of a specific fire-fighting object violates Article 9(3) of the Fire

On the other hand, the statutes directly governing fire-fighting systems appear to have the fire safety standards, etc. determined and publicly announced by the Presidential Decree or the Minister of Public Safety and Security under Article 9(1) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act. However, unless the prosecutor specifically identified the violation as the facts charged, the determination of such violation cannot be made.

(b) cannot recognize the need for measures, such as the number, relocation, removal and repair of the objects of fire service;

Even if the fire-fighting systems, etc. stipulated in Articles 50 subparag. 6 and 20(8) of the Fire-Fighting Facilities Act, which maintain and manage the location of various fire-fighting systems, such as as written in the facts charged, can be seen as falling under “the fire-fighting systems, etc. in violation of the laws and regulations,” the measures to be taken by the fire-fighting controller in accordance with the above provisions of the Fire-Fighting Facilities Act shall be demanded to take necessary measures such as the number, transfer, removal, and repair of the persons concerned.

However, the evidence submitted by the prosecutor alone, in addition to repairing the relevant fire-fighting system so as not to mislead the operation of the fire-fighting system without doing any act such as blocking any power source that may disturb the function and performance of the fire-fighting system, such as as stated in the facts charged, in this case, it is difficult to view that measures such as repairing, removing, repairing, etc. of apartment buildings as stated in the facts charged are necessary, and there is no other evidence to acknowledge

Conclusion

Thus, the facts charged of this case constitute a case where it is not a crime or there is no proof of facts charged, and thus, the defendant is acquitted under the former and latter parts of Article 325 of the Criminal Procedure

Judges Kang Jae-il

1) The term "interested parties" means owners, managers or occupants of objects of fire-fighting (see Article 2(2) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act and Article 2 subparag. 3 of the Framework Act on Fire-Fighting Services).

2) The term "object of fire service" means buildings, vehicles, ships, shipbuilding structures, forests, and other artificial structures or objects (see Article 2(2) of the Fire-Fighting Systems Act and Article 2 subparag. 1 of the Framework Act on Fire Services).