"Amend Jeonsang Act to Specify 'Trade Secrets Excluded' When Disclosing Platform Search Ranking Criteria"

Fair Trade Commission and Consumer Law Association Hold Academic Conference on 'Development Directions of E-commerce and the E-commerce Act'

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] There has been a call to clearly stipulate that trade secrets such as search algorithms are excluded from the disclosure of major criteria used by platforms to determine search and exposure rankings, according to the "Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, etc." which the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is currently revising.

At a joint academic conference held on the 6th by the FTC and the Korean Consumer Law Association, Professor Seo Jong-hee of Yonsei University suggested in his keynote presentation that "it is necessary to clearly stipulate that related trade secrets (algorithms) are excluded from the disclosure targets regarding the disclosure of major criteria used to determine search and exposure rankings."

The proposed amendment to the Electronic Commerce Act, currently under legislative notice by the FTC, requires platforms that rank search results to disclose major decision criteria used to determine the rankings, such as the number of views, sales volume, product price, and whether advertising fees have been paid. The platform industry opposes this, expressing concerns that their trade secret algorithms may be exposed. Professor Seo's suggestion is to explicitly state in the amendment that "search algorithms will not be disclosed" to alleviate such industry concerns.

This academic conference featured three presentations and a comprehensive discussion on topics including ▲ the purpose and key contents of the full revision of the Electronic Commerce Act ▲ issues concerning online platform operators in the full revision ▲ and perspectives on the full revision.

In his welcoming remarks, FTC Chairman Cho Sung-wook said, "We have prepared the full revision of the Electronic Commerce Act to appropriately respond to the market environment changes centered on platforms and to prevent and remedy consumer damages in daily life," adding, "I hope this academic conference will help find constructive directions for the development of the Electronic Commerce Act."

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