National Assembly's Political Affairs and Science Committees Clash Over Online Platform Act

This Week, Online Platform Bill Review Scheduled in the Political Affairs Committee
Fair Trade Commission Maintains "Agreed Single Proposal" Position

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Cho Sung-wook attended the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee hearing on the 8th for the audit of the Fair Trade Commission and received a report from Fair Trade Commission officials. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee and the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee are engaged in a turf war over the Fair Trade Commission's proposed legislation on the Online Platform Fairness Act.

According to the Fair Trade Commission and the National Assembly on the 21st, the government's submitted Online Platform Bill is awaiting review by the Political Affairs Committee, the standing committee with jurisdiction.

However, as a bill to protect online platform users was submitted to the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee, there is a dispute over which committee should regulate the platforms and which committee should review the bill.

The Fair Trade Commission insists that the government's prepared bill is a consensus draft and that the Fair Trade Commission should regulate the platforms, but the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee remains firm in its stance.

The National Assembly Secretariat has also intervened. In a report reviewing the platform bills submitted by the government and lawmakers Kim Byung-wook and Min Hyung-bae, the Secretariat stated, "It is necessary to consider concerns from related industries about excessive regulation and the potential hindrance to innovation incentives in the platform industry. Therefore, through a process of gathering opinions, it is important to balance the scope of prohibited acts and the level of detail."

Meanwhile, it is expected to take considerable time to resolve conflicts between ministries and committees and to pass the bill, and there are concerns that the bill could become a 'patchwork' during the process of reconciling interests.

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