What makes the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency legally exist, and what role do its branches play in that picture?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file, we read the Agency's articles of incorporation and the certificate of incorporation registration filed at the registry for the location of its head office, since the provision makes that registration the moment of establishment. We also look at the presidential decree provisions cited for branches and at any paper showing that an application was lodged through a particular branch office.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision as a whole: the Agency is established for the purpose of resolving medical disputes promptly, fairly and efficiently, it is a legal person, it may set up branches in the places that need them as a presidential decree provides, and it comes into existence by registering its incorporation at the place where its head office is located.
Another reading stresses the structure of that rule: establishment depends on one registration, made at the head office's location, so the branches the provision permits are offices the Agency may install after the fact, and the provision does not say that any branch registration of its own could bring the Agency into existence.
Your judgment
If papers were filed through a branch office, what in the record would show that the incorporation at the head office had already been registered by that date?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change when the Agency's establishment takes effect or to give branches their own standing, or if a court decision addresses the capacity in which a branch may receive filings.