Park Seong-jung Proposes Bill to Ban Portal Ads by Unqualified Telecommunications Equipment Operators

Park Seong-jung, Spokesperson of the Science and ICT Committee, Introduces Partial Amendment Bill to the Information and Communications Construction Business Act

Seongjung Park, Member of the People Power Party

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] A bill to protect consumers from unqualified individuals not registered in the information and communication construction industry has been proposed in the National Assembly.

Park Sung-joong, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee (People Power Party whip), announced on the 26th that he had introduced the "Partial Amendment to the Information and Communication Construction Industry Act" on the 16th. The bill restricts unqualified individuals who have not registered in the information and communication construction industry from falsely advertising or indicating that they can receive contracts or perform information and communication construction work.

The field of information and communication facilities and construction is rapidly becoming specialized as the ICT industry advances and diversifies, requiring specialized technical skills in related areas. In this situation, the number of illegal construction cases caused by indiscriminate advertising by unqualified individuals is also increasing. In fact, on popular portal sites such as Naver and Daum, unqualified companies post false advertisements suggesting they can perform communication facility construction, but there are no measures to control this.

According to Park’s office, when unqualified companies perform information and communication construction, there is a high possibility of issues such as rework due to non-compliance with technical standards or the use of non-genuine or low-cost equipment, and there is concern about consumer damage due to the inability to guarantee after-sales service. In particular, portal sites that post advertisements from unqualified companies have difficulty identifying the status of these companies, so there is practically no basis to expel unqualified companies, raising calls for consumer protection policies.

The bill stipulates that unqualified individuals in the information and communication construction industry cannot make representations that may cause them to be mistaken for legitimate businesses, and includes provisions to impose fines of up to 3 million KRW for violations.

Assemblyman Park Sung-joong stated, “If unqualified individuals perform information and communication facility construction, there are no measures for consumers to receive compensation even if damages such as personal information leaks occur due to the use of vulnerable security equipment,” adding, “It is urgent to prepare consumer protection measures as well as to improve related systems to foster the advancing information and communication facility market.”

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