Who appoints the Ethics Committee members, and for how long? The December 2025 amendment to the Rules of the Constitutional Court on the Enforcement of the Public Service Ethics Act

What changed

Article 10(2) of the Rules sets up the Public Official Ethics Committee: 9 members including the chair, drawn from among lawyers, educators, persons of learning and standing, or persons recommended by civic groups (meaning non-profit private organisations under Article 2 of the Act on Support for Non-profit Private Organisations, which this note has not read); and 4 members including the vice-chair, drawn from among Constitutional Court officials. Before the amendment those 4 were commissioned or appointed by the Chief Justice 'with a resolution of the Justices' Conference'. Constitutional Court Regulation No. 485, promulgated and in force on 15 December 2025, deletes that requirement, so the Chief Justice simply commissions or appoints them. The official reason gives the aim as reflecting the reorganisation of the Committee and improving how the system runs.

Article 10(3) keeps the main rule that the chair and members hold office for 2 years and may be reappointed only once. The proviso changes the terms of members drawn from Constitutional Court officials: it used to say that a Constitutional Court Justice among the officials appointed as a member served 2 years, while 'other persons' served for the period during which they held the position held at the time of appointment; now every member appointed from among Constitutional Court officials serves for that period. Members who are not Constitutional Court officials stay under the 2-year term in the main sentence.

In Article 12(2) the secretary of the Committee is now the Director-General of the Planning and Finance Bureau of the Constitutional Court Secretariat, in place of the Planning and Coordination Director; the clerical staff remain the responsible staff under Article 14. The official reason lists this among the changes reflecting the Committee's reorganisation.

What to read in the text

The addendum to Constitutional Court Regulation No. 485 states one rule only: the Rules enter into force on the day of promulgation, which is 15 December 2025. It says nothing about cases or matters already pending, about members already in office, or about any transitional measure.

A file seeking the new rules must therefore show its own facts: the date of commission or appointment, whether the member is drawn from among Constitutional Court officials or from the outside group named in Article 10(2), the position the member held at the time of appointment, and, for Article 12(2), which bureau head signed as secretary and when.

Questions for the legislature

Article 10(3) now measures an official member's term by 'the period during which the person holds the position held at the time of appointment'. The text, the addendum and the official reason do not say what happens where that position is abolished or the member moves to another post without leaving the Constitutional Court. Does membership end automatically at that point?

The addendum says only that 'this Rule enters into force on the day of promulgation'. Neither it, nor the amended Article 10(2) and (3), nor the official reason says how members already serving on 15 December 2025 are treated. Are their terms continued on the terms in force when they were appointed, or recalculated under the new wording?

When to revisit

We revisit this note if a further amendment restores a role for the Justices' Conference or again names the secretary's office, or if a decision of the Constitutional Court explains whether a change of post within the Secretariat ends an official member's term under Article 10(3).