Legislation may be enacted! South Korea advocates strengthening the protection responsibility of online platforms for consumers

It is reported that the Korea Fair Trade Commission has promoted a bill that if one suffers losses such as fraud when conducting transactions on an online shopping platform, the identity of the criminal can be confirmed through the platform company .

If consumers are harmed due to the seller's negligence, they can request compensation from online platform operators such as Naver and 11th Street where the seller is located . The bill strengthens the responsibility of online platform operators to protect consumers.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 7th that it will formulate an "Amendment to the E-Commerce Consumer Protection Act" and will give a legislative notice before the 14th of next month.

Cho Sung-wook, chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, said , “As the digital economy develops and non- face-to-face transactions increase due to the pandemic , online transactions and consumer losses are increasing at the same time. After submitting the Online Platform Fairness Act to the National Assembly, we will promote the revision of the Electronic Commerce Act with a focus on preventing consumer damage. ”

The core content is to abolish the so-called "intermediary notification exemption" system and strengthen the responsibility of platform companies. According to the current law, as long as the platform company informs the fact that it is an "intermediary company", most consumers will not be held responsible for their losses.

However, the amendment stipulates that platform companies shall bear joint and several liability with the resident companies based on the roles they actually perform. If platform companies advertise and supply products under their own names, causing consumers to mistakenly believe that they are the parties to the transaction, they shall be jointly and severally liable with the resident companies .

However, once the revised bill is passed, open market companies can also receive compensation. The amendment also stipulates that platform companies will also bear joint and several liability for compensation with the resident companies if they directly perform settlement, collection, refund and other businesses during the transaction process and cause losses to consumers intentionally or negligently.

The amendment redefines various classifications and terms into three categories: online platform operators , online platform users, and own Internet site operators.

The industry argues that with strengthened regulations, platform companies should rebuild their organizations, human resources, and systems to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

South Korea

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consumer