유럽헌법학회

Fines under the Automobile Management Act are ultimately the government's revenue generated due to damage to consumers. Therefore, it is desirable that fines be used for the benefit of consumers who are victims. However, if the fine is transferred to the general account, it is transferred to the national treasury and cannot be spent for a specific purpose. Therefore, it is possible to consider a plan to transfer the fine to a special account or a specific fund and use it for a specific purpose, such as compensating for consumer damage. However, it is believed that transferring fines to a fund like the Fair Fund in the United States will be difficult as a consumer protection measure. The reason is that, first, in order to revert the fine to the fund, amendments to Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 of the National Finance Act must be made. Second, the possibility that the financial resources will be used in an opaque way cannot be ruled out if they are transferred to the fund. Third, since a certain level of funds must be maintained in order to operate the fund, excessive fines may be collected for this purpose. For this reason, restricting the use of fines in the Automobile Management Act by organizing a special account rather than transferring the fines to the fund could be a good way to utilize the fines in accordance with the fundamental purpose of the law. A more appropriate way to use fines would be to legislate to limit the use of fines to consumer protection rather than transferring fines to general accounting and using them for purposes unrelated to the victim.