Prosecutors' offices become public prosecution offices: what the October 2026 amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Special Act on Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes renames

What changed

The official reason traces the amendment to two other instruments: the Government Organization Act, amended by Act No. 21065 (promulgated 1 October 2025, in force 2 October 2026) to abolish prosecutors' offices and establish public prosecution offices under the Minister of Justice, so as to separate investigation from prosecution, and the Public Prosecution Office Act, enacted by Act No. 21490 (promulgated 24 March 2026, in force 2 October 2026). This Rules amendment is described as tidying the names connected with the former prosecutors' offices. This note has not read either Act.

Article 6 deals with temporary measures. Under Article 6(8), where an appeal is filed against a decision on temporary measures and the court demands a copy of the investigation record, the judicial police officer must send the copy to the prosecutors' office with jurisdiction, within the scope needed for the appeal hearing; the amendment changes the receiving body to the public prosecution office with jurisdiction. Article 6(10), which applies other provisions mutatis mutandis to the request and enforcement of temporary measures and related procedure, for matters not laid down in paragraphs 1 to 9, now cites the Rules on Public Prosecution Office Case Handling provisions on paragraphs 6 and 7 of one article and paragraph 7 of another, in place of the former Rules on Prosecution Case Handling provisions on paragraphs 5 and 6 of one article and paragraph 6 of another. Neither rule is in the pack, so this note gives no content for either.

Article 9(4), on handling the decision by which a prosecutor sends a detained child abuser to the court with jurisdiction, now applies the Rules on Public Prosecution Office Case Handling provision cited in its first part, alongside the two citations that the amendment text leaves untouched, replacing a former string of citations to the Rules on Prosecution Case Handling; the same paragraph still reads 'family protection case' as 'child protection case'. The prescribed forms change accordingly: one form names the head of the district public prosecution office in place of the head of the district prosecutors' office, and the other listed forms replace 'head of the district prosecutors' office (head of a branch office)' or 'district prosecutors' office' with the corresponding public prosecution office wording.

What to read in the text

The addendum provides that these Rules come into force on 2 October 2026; the National Law Information Center records promulgation on 1 October 2026. The addendum says nothing about pending cases, earlier acts or transitional measures, and the official reason gives no transitional rule either.

A reader's file therefore turns on dates and names rather than on a statutory condition: the date on which the investigation record copy was sent under Article 6(8), the date of the transfer decision under Article 9(4), or the date a prescribed form was used, measured against 2 October 2026, and whether the body named is the public prosecution office or the former prosecutors' office.

Questions for the legislature

Article 9(4) now applies the Rules on Public Prosecution Office Case Handling provision cited in its first part, while two of the former citations to the Rules on Prosecution Case Handling, one on paragraph 4 of one article and one on paragraph 7 of another, have no counterpart in the new wording. Neither rule is in the pack, and neither the amendment text, the addendum nor the official reason says whether anything the omitted citations supplied is now covered. Which provision, if any, carries that function after 2 October 2026?

The forms now name the 'head of the district public prosecution office (head of a branch office)' in place of the former prosecutors' office title. Neither the amendment text nor the addendum addresses a document already prepared or issued under the old heading, and the official reason speaks only of tidying names. Does a form bearing the former title remain sufficient for a step taken before 2 October 2026?

When to revisit

We revisit this note if the Rules on Public Prosecution Office Case Handling and the Rules on Prosecution Case Handling are read against the citations in Article 6(10) and Article 9(4), if guidance appears on forms already issued under the former titles, or if a further amendment adjusts the two citations that Article 9(4) leaves unchanged.