Global CP 'Daeriin' Designation and Tariff Approval System Abolished... Passed by Legislative Subcommittee

Passed the Legislation Subcommittee of the Science and ICT Committee on the 6th
Full Committee Meeting on the 7th, Followed by the Plenary Session Next Week for the 20th National Assembly's 'Last Legislative Opportunity'
Mandatory Designation of Agents to Ensure 'Korean Laws Apply in Korea'
Fee Approval System Relaxed to Deferred Notification System

National Assembly Building. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Global content giants (CPs) such as Google, Netflix, and YouTube must also designate a substitute (agent) to ensure they can comply with Korean laws in Korea. For large CPs, obligations to implement technical measures to stabilize telecommunication services have been imposed. The fee approval system, previously considered an 'asymmetric regulation,' has been relaxed to a deferred notification system.

On the 6th, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee's Bill Review Subcommittee 2 passed bills including one to resolve reverse discrimination against 'global CPs' with these contents. If passed in the plenary session on the 7th and the scheduled main session next week, the bill will be passed as the 'last legislative train' of the 20th National Assembly.

First, even global CPs must designate an agent to protect domestic users, as amended in the Telecommunications Business Act, which passed the subcommittee. For large CPs meeting certain criteria such as number of users and traffic volume, a bill imposing obligations to implement technical measures to stabilize telecommunication services also passed. These bills aim to strengthen regulatory enforcement against global CPs, often called 'traffic hippos,' who do not pay network fees and fail to fulfill 'user protection' conditions.

The fee approval system, which was pointed out as a cause of 'price collusion' among telecom companies, has been relaxed to a deferred notification system, opening the way for its abolition. Under the deferred notification system, if a business operator reports a fee, the government can reject it within 15 days if it finds problems. The abolition of the approval system has been discussed with the intention of accelerating price competition among telecom companies and enhancing consumer welfare. Previously, government approval was required every time a fee plan changed, making it difficult to launch various fee plans tailored to consumer age or preferences.

In addition, the amendment to the Special Act on Information and Communications Convergence, which includes the activation of quantum information communication, and the full revision of the Software Industry Act, a long-awaited law for the software (SW) industry, also passed the subcommittee. The amendment to the Electronic Signature Act, which replaces ActiveX-based public certificates with various authentication methods, also cleared the threshold of the Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee.

Assemblyman Kim Sung-tae said, “Rather than including excessively unrealistic content, we set principles to reduce damage to domestic companies and ensure that overseas operators bear the responsibilities they should legitimately have for user protection.” He added, “The quality obligation for internet companies above a certain scale was replaced with the term service stability, but there is no substantial difference in content,” and expressed expectations, “The introduction of a domestic agent designation system in the user protection part proposed by Assemblywoman Park Seon-sook will increase administrative enforcement power.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.