"Comprehensive Revision of the Jeonsang Act... Active Correction of Unfair Practices on Online Platforms"

Central and Local Governments Confirm 'Consumer Policy Basic Plan (2021~2023)'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government emphasized that it will actively rectify unfair transactions on online platforms by fully revising the 'Electronic Commerce Consumer Protection Act.'

The Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Fair Trade Commission announced on the 30th that the Consumer Policy Committee reviewed and approved five agenda items, including the '5th Basic Consumer Policy Plan (2021-2023)' and the implementation plan for next year, through written deliberation.

The chairpersons of the Consumer Policy Committee are jointly held by the Prime Minister and a private sector chairperson. It serves as the pan-government consumer policy control tower, composed of ministers from eight related ministries and 16 private members.

On this day, the 6th Consumer Policy Committee reviewed a total of five agenda items, including three approval items and two report items.

Source=Office for Government Policy Coordination·Fair Trade Commission

First, they approved the '5th Basic Consumer Policy Plan,' which will be applied for three years from next year through 2023. The plan includes 16 key tasks and 36 detailed tasks across five major policy areas.

The core is to fully revise the 'Electronic Commerce Consumer Protection Act.' They emphasized actively rectifying marketing tactics known as 'dark nudges.' Dark nudges refer to tactics used by businesses that exploit consumers' tendency to avoid reversing their choices, thereby inducing irrational purchases.

To guarantee consumers' data sovereignty, illegal acts in the process of collecting and using personal information were categorized. Various protective measures such as standard terms and conditions, education, and damage relief were also established.

The comprehensive consumer policy implementation plan for next year was also approved. The plan includes next year's promotion plans of 19 central administrative agencies and 17 metropolitan local governments. Each central administrative agency established implementation plans for a total of 141 detailed tasks to achieve the five major policy goals in the basic plan.

Additionally, five tasks selected as 'consumer-oriented system improvement tasks' were reviewed, and improvements were recommended to the respective ministries.

The five tasks are ▲ easing the notification obligation burden for insurance policyholders (Ministry of Justice) ▲ preventing consumer damage from the launch of new mobile communication network services (Ministry of Science and ICT) ▲ establishing sanctions for false origin labeling of domestically produced goods (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) ▲ strengthening notification obligations in the subscription economy (Fair Trade Commission and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) ▲ standardizing performance measurement criteria for wireless earphones (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy).

In addition, agenda items such as 'Response directions to enhance consumer rights in the subscription economy' and 'Strengthening consumer education on electronic commerce for elementary, middle, and high school students' were approved.

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