FTC Legislative Notice
When consumers are damaged by the fault of a store company
Platform operators also specify joint responsibilities
Criticism of the industry’s “disappearance of industry trends”
In the event that consumers are damaged by the fault of a store company, it is expected that platform operators such as Naver, Coupang, 11th Street, and the People of Delivery will also be responsible for a certain portion of Hyangwoo. For example, after purchasing a product in an open market, if a refund is requested due to a defect, but the refund cannot be received, the consumer can file a dispute settlement or file a lawsuit for compensation at one of the stores or online platforms. However, the Internet companies and start-up industries are pouring criticism that “it is ignoring the characteristics of the digital economy, industry trends, and consumer benefits.”
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On the 7th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it would announce the legislative amendment to the Act on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce Transactions (E-Commerce Act) by the 14th of next month. “This bill focuses on preventing damage to consumers,” said Cho Sung-wook, “the digital economy and the increase in non-face-to-face transactions due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) are overlapping, and online transactions and victims are increasing at the same time.” Explained.
The key to this amendment is that it further strengthens the responsibility of online platform operators in the event of consumer damage. Under the current law, most consumers do not have to be held liable for damages by simply notifying that the online platform is an intermediary. On the other hand, this amendment made it possible for the platform to take responsibility for compensation, along with the participating companies, if the platform causes damage to consumers by intention or negligence while performing tasks such as payment, payment, and refund. Application targets are online platforms such as portal companies, open markets such as Coupang and 11th Street, delivery applications such as the People of Delivery, and interpersonal (C2C) platforms such as the carrot market.
However, in a joint statement released on the day of the Korea Internet Enterprise Association and the Korea Startup Forum, “If the platform is to be held liable for solidarity, the platform will raise the threshold of new businesses to reduce business risks or “This will lead to a negative result of having difficulty entering the market through an intermediary platform for start-up-sized businesses,” he said.
In addition, if a dispute occurs in a transaction that occurs on a C2C platform such as a carrot market or second hand country, the seller’s identity information (real name, phone number, etc.) I also saw that there was a problem with letting them know the number and address). They said, “Must be required to provide personal information of individual sellers is the same as requiring disclosure of personal information of 20 million consumers.” “The’identity information’ of others is not automatically destroyed after the transaction is terminated, thus threatening the personal information of users. This can lead to” he pointed out.
In addition, the industry argued that the FTC’s amendment had not secured both content and procedural justification. The Fair Trade Commission announced that it had gathered a wide range of opinions through a total of 21 stakeholder meetings in preparation for the revised bill. However, they argue that the popular association and the Cospo are different from the facts. They said, “The FTC did not disclose the revised bill at all in the process of stakeholder meetings, but only urged the company to increase the number of times and show’restaurants’, excluding only the main points and those that would raise critical opinions from the industry.” This unilateral and authoritative attitude was the same not only for the industry, but also for consumer groups and academic experts.”
/ Reporter Baek Joo-won·Sejong = Reporter Yang Cheol-min [email protected]
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