Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon "Establishing Legal Grounds for Supporting Small Business Online Joint Sales Platforms"

Partial Amendment to the Act on the Protection and Support of Small Business Owners Passed by the National Assembly

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Legal grounds have been established to support the construction of an online joint sales platform for small business owners.

Lee Byung-hoon, a member of the National Assembly (The Democratic Party of Korea·Gwangju Dong-gu Nam-gu Eul), announced that the partial amendment to the "Act on the Protection and Support of Small Business Owners" passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 24th.

The amended law allows the Minister of SMEs and Startups to carry out the "Small Business Owners Online Joint Sales Platform Construction Support Project" to support the management stability of small business owners.

It also specifies in the amended law that the Small Enterprise and Market Service Fund can be used for the "Small Business Owners Online Joint Sales Platform Construction Support Project." Last year, the Small Enterprise and Market Service Fund was operated on a scale of about 10 trillion won.

Rep. Lee said, "The establishment of a non-face-to-face culture due to the spread and prolongation of COVID-19 is further increasing the economic burden on small business owners," adding, "With the passage of this bill, the government will be able to create and distribute a public delivery platform for small business owners, which is expected to significantly reduce the fees and advertising costs associated with small business owners' use of online delivery apps."

As the non-face-to-face culture has spread socially due to COVID-19, small business owners, who form the backbone of the grassroots economy, have suffered the most economically. However, some large online platforms are enjoying a super-boom as their sales have surged.

According to the industry, current online delivery app operators charge small business owners up to 12.5% of the food price as brokerage fees. In addition, delivery fees and advertising fees are sometimes charged separately.

For small business owners who cannot generate sales without delivery, the delivery app fees act as an additional burden, leading to criticism that these fees exacerbate the damage to small business owners.

Local governments across the country, including Gyeonggi Province, have been coming up with self-help measures to rescue small business owners by building online platforms targeting small business owners in their regions, but there has been no legal system to support this, making it difficult to provide budget support.

Rep. Lee said, "With the passage of this amendment, support for the construction and operation of public delivery apps led by the government has become possible," adding, "The construction and operation of a public online joint sales platform that can reduce the burden on local governments and alleviate the economic damage to small business owners is expected to gain more momentum."

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