Passed the State Council of’Platform Fair Law’
Regulated companies are smaller than the original plan
The’Online Platform Fairness Act Enactment Bill’ passed a state council meeting on the 26th, which imposes a fine of up to 1 billion won on platform operators that engage in unfair activities, such as inflicting damages on participating companies. Accordingly, a separate legislation targeting only platform operators such as online shopping malls and delivery apps will be enacted.
The bill sanctions cases in which a retailer is required to pass marketing costs or demand unfair economic benefits. It also regulates forcing the purchase of certain goods or unilaterally changing the terms of the transaction against the entering company.
For platform operators who have committed unfair activities, the Fair Trade Commission first orders corrective actions, and if they do not comply, a penalty equivalent to twice the amount of violation of the law is imposed within the limit of 1 billion won. The same action is taken when retaliating against a store company for accusing unfair behavior.
Contents related to the preparation of contracts between platform operators and vendors are also included in the bill. The platform is obligated to draw up and issue contracts. Key items such as restrictions on entry to other platforms, standards for sharing damages incurred in the sales process, and standards for exposure to products and services within the platform must also be specified in the contract.
Platform operators covered by the law have sales of 10 billion won or more or brokerage transactions of 100 billion won or more. The FTC expects that 20-30 platform operators, including Naver and Kakao, will be included. There are 1.8 million stores, such as small business owners who make transactions with them, and brokerage transactions are over 80 trillion won per year.
When the Fair Trade Commission first announced the legislation in September last year, there was a possibility that platform operators with sales of more than 5 billion won were included in the application, but this time the target has decreased.
Reporter Noh Gyeong-mok [email protected]
Ⓒ Hankyung.com prohibits unauthorized reproduction and redistribution