Fair Trade Commission "Seoul and Gyeonggi Delivery Agencies Correct Issues Such as Omission of Delivery Fees and Unilateral Commission Change Clauses"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Delivery agencies located in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas have agreed to voluntarily correct contract clauses such as failure to specify delivery fees and unilateral changes to commission rates.

On the 22nd, the Fair Trade Commission announced that out of 163 delivery agencies in Seoul and Gyeonggi, 124 have adopted the standard contract or voluntarily agreed to revise their contracts accordingly. This follows a joint inspection of contracts between local delivery agencies and delivery drivers conducted by the Fair Trade Commission, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Seoul City, Gyeonggi Province, and the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency.

The Fair Trade Commission views the creation of fair contracts, which form the basic foundation of transactional relationships, as essential to preventing unfair treatment of delivery drivers. Reflecting the multi-tiered transaction structure of the delivery agency industry, they examined the contractual relationships between local delivery agencies at the lowest tier of the transaction chain and delivery drivers. Specifically, among approximately 700 delivery agencies in Seoul and Gyeonggi that transact with the top three delivery platforms, 163 agencies with 50 or more delivery drivers were subject to inspection. The number of delivery drivers affected by this contract review is approximately 12,000.

As a result of the inspection, 124 agencies (76.1%) either adopted the standard contract or voluntarily agreed to revise their contracts. On the other hand, 17 agencies (10.4%) refused both the adoption of the standard contract and voluntary correction. The Fair Trade Commission has urged these agencies to be cautious to prevent unfair trade practices against delivery drivers in the future and plans to scrutinize them more closely if complaints are filed.

Specifically, many contracts did not specify the delivery fees that delivery drivers should receive. Accordingly, the basic delivery fee must be clearly stated in the contract, and considering the characteristics of the delivery industry, additional payments may be made depending on circumstances. Additionally, some agencies set the per-delivery commission within a range of 100 to 500 won but did not specify the reasons for possible fluctuations, allowing the agency to unilaterally determine the amount within that range. Therefore, contracts must clearly define the per-delivery commission (rate) and specify the reasons and amounts for any necessary changes. Furthermore, many contracts included provisions that completely exempted agencies from liability regardless of fault in the event of an accident. This has been revised so that if the agency is at fault during delivery operations, it must share responsibility.

A Fair Trade Commission official stated, "The significance of this inspection lies in directly examining contracts between local delivery agencies, where the largest number of delivery drivers work, and delivery drivers through field-centered administration with the cooperation of Seoul City and Gyeonggi Province." He added, "Agencies that have submitted plans to adopt the standard contract or voluntarily revise their contracts are expected to implement these changes within the year."

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