Seongwook Cho: "Onple Act Established to Protect Platform Tenants... Regulating Digital Power Imbalance Is Key"

Meeting with Representatives of Six Online Platform Tenants

Jongwook Cho, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission. (File photo)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Cho Sung-wook, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, emphasized the necessity of legislation on the 11th, stating, "The Act on the Fairness of Online Platform Intermediary Transactions is a law designed to protect 1.8 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners, and to promote coexistence and sustainable growth in the platform sector."

On the 11th, Chairman Cho held a meeting with representatives of six online platform tenant companies, including the Korea Federation of SMEs and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, and said, "The core of the On-Platform Act is the regulation of the digital gap-eul relationship."

Earlier, the Fair Trade Commission proposed the On-Platform Act bill on January 28 this year. The main point of the On-Platform Act is to mandate the creation and delivery of contracts between platform operators and tenant companies to prevent disputes. The contract must include essential details such as service content, compensation, commencement, restriction, suspension, and changes of services, product exposure, and standards for sharing damages.

Chairman Cho explained the legislative intent, saying, "Numerous economic actors such as consumers, SMEs, and small business owners increasingly rely on platforms, and as this dependence grows, power imbalances arise, raising concerns about the so-called 'digital gap-eul relationship.' The issues of gap-eul relationships online have blind spots that are difficult to regulate sufficiently with existing offline-centered gap-eul relationship laws."

According to the Fair Trade Commission, representatives of six SME and small business associations expressed the seriousness of damages caused to tenant companies by unfair trade practices in the online platform sector during the meeting and urged prompt legislation to protect 1.8 million tenant companies. The Korea Federation of SMEs emphasized the need to swiftly complete legislation considering the surge in non-face-to-face transactions due to COVID-19 and the severity of damages to SMEs and small business owners. The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business stated that specifying key transaction conditions such as sales commissions, advertising fees, and search result exposure criteria in contracts and clarifying responsibilities between businesses can prevent disputes. Furthermore, they suggested reviewing tenant companies' rights to organize groups and request consultations.

In response, Chairman Cho said, "We will successfully complete the legislation of the On-Platform Act to eliminate blind spots in protecting tenant companies in the digital market and establish a foundation for win-win cooperation between platforms and tenant companies." He added, "During the National Assembly's legislative process, we will ensure that the voices of not only platform operators but also SMEs and small business owners are reflected in a balanced manner."

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