South Korea Mandates Eight-Hour Training for Telecom Construction Contractors

The South Korean government has made an eight-hour training course compulsory for every registered information and communications technology construction contractor, with completion now convertible into a shorter business suspension. The rule is contained in 대통령령 제36782호 (Presidential Decree No. 36782), a partial amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Information and Communications Construction Business Act, promulgated on 21 October 2026 in the Official Gazette 관보 제21344호. The decree enters into force on 22 October 2026, the day after publication.

The amendment implements 법률 제21555호 (Act No. 21555), the revision of the Information and Communications Construction Business Act promulgated on 21 April 2026 and effective 22 October 2026, which created the training scheme and obliged contractors to carry liability insurance or mutual-aid cover. The decree was adopted after deliberation by the State Council and signed by President 이재명, with Prime Minister 한성숙 and Science and ICT Minister 배경훈 countersigning. It binds the entire ICT installation sector — the contractors registered under the act — and any institution that wishes to deliver the courses.

Eight hours, in a classroom or online

New Article 20-2 fixes the format and length of what the decree calls “information and communications construction business training”. It may be given as collective instruction, such as lectures and audiovisual sessions, or as distance learning, including internet lectures, and the duration is set at eight hours.

The curriculum must cover four compulsory areas:

• laws and regulations governing the information and communications construction business;
• ethical management by contractors;
• quality, safety and environmental management of ICT works;
• any other matter needed for the sound development of the sector.

Accredited training bodies and completion certificates

Under new Article 20-3, the courses are delivered by an institution entrusted with the task by the Minister of Science and ICT, designated as an “information and communications construction business training institution”. Each such body must draw up a detailed implementation plan for the following year and submit it to the minister by 31 December every year.

The institution must also issue a completion certificate, in the form prescribed by ministerial ordinance, to every contractor that finishes the course. New Article 18(5) requires the metropolitan or provincial governor to record the training on the contractor’s registration certificate or registration notebook when a copy of that certificate is filed.

Seven days cut from a suspension

New Article 20-4 sets out how training translates into relief. A contractor seeking a reduction of a business suspension must submit a copy of the completion certificate to the governor who imposed the penalty; the governor must examine whether the grounds are met and notify the contractor without delay of the decision and, where granted, of the new end date.

Annex 8, also rewritten by the decree, quantifies the benefit: eight hours of training completed after the suspension was imposed cuts seven days. For corporate contractors, training by the chief executive cuts seven days, while training by other registered executives cuts three days per person, capped at seven days overall. The reduction is refused in four cases:

• a suspension imposed for a false report under Article 23(1);
• a suspension for submitting false construction records, capital figures or related documents under Article 27(3);
• a suspension for obtaining a client’s written consent by fraud or improper means in breach of Article 31(3);
• a further violation within one year of a suspension already shortened by training.

New Article 18(4) adds that governors must confiscate the registration certificate and registration notebook of a suspended contractor and keep them for the duration of the penalty.

Insurance, payment guarantees and a new fine

New Article 34-2 requires contractors to hold information and communications construction indemnity insurance or mutual-aid cover from the start of works to completion, with cover equal to the contract value, and to hand the policy or certificate to the client by the start date. Eligible providers include local public corporations and foundations under the Local Public Enterprises Act and institutions funded by the state or local governments; detailed procedures and premium calculations are left to a ministerial notice.

New Article 26-2 narrows the exception to payment guarantees to works worth less than 10 million won or lasting no more than three months. Annex 10 gains a new item imposing a fine of 3 million won on contractors that fail, without justified cause, to provide a payment guarantee, deposit or insurance premium.

The decree also adjusts several provisions to the creation of the 전남광주통합특별시, extending references to special cities and integrated special cities in Articles 8-3, 8-4, 34 and 55.

The change matters to every firm in the ICT installation market: training is now the only route to a shorter suspension, and the certificate must be held and produced on demand. It also opens a regulated niche for bodies able to win accreditation from the Ministry of Science and ICT and to file their plans by the end-of-year deadline.

Source: 관보 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21344, 21 October 2026, Presidential Decree section (official reference: 대통령령 제36782호).