Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon Proposes Amendment to Small Business Protection Act

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Congressman Lee Byung-hoon (Democratic Party, Gwangju Dongnam-eul) proposed a revision to the "Act on the Protection and Support of Small Business Owners" on the 11th.

As the non-face-to-face culture has spread socially due to COVID-19, small business owners have suffered the greatest economic damage. In contrast, some large online platforms have experienced a surge in sales, enjoying a boom. However, they have been criticized for exacerbating the damage to small business owners through abnormal increases in platform usage fees, excessive advertising fees, and manipulative operation of product listing guides.

In response, local governments nationwide, including Gyeonggi Province, have been introducing self-help measures to rescue small business owners by building online platforms targeting local small business owners. However, there is no appropriate legal system to support this, causing many difficulties in providing budget support.

Congressman Lee has been hastening the revision of the "Small Business Owner Protection Act" to establish a legal basis for voluntary platform construction support by local governments and small business owners, enabling each local government to support small business owners. Supporting online platforms is also one of Congressman Lee's campaign pledges.

Congressman Lee Byung-hoon said, "If online platforms are monopolized by individuals or companies, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer phenomenon will intensify, which can become a serious social threat," adding, "Online platforms must be made a social public good by the government and local governments stepping in."

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