SME Industry: "Amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act with Increased Penalties Must Be Revised in the National Assembly"

Government to Strengthen Penalties for Personal Information Protection Act Violations
Venture and SME Sectors: "Innovative Services, Job Losses"
"Severe Industry Damage... Leading to Collapse of Growth Engines"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and venture business sectors have clearly opposed the amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act, which strengthens the penalty regulations, stating that industrial damage is expected following its submission to the National Assembly.

According to the industry on the 3rd, the Personal Information Protection Commission recently submitted an amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act to the National Assembly, which raises the penalty regulations from the current law's "related sales" standard to the "total sales" standard.

The maximum penalty amount for violations, which was previously calculated as up to 3% of the sales related to the violation, has been changed to up to 3% of the total sales, thereby strengthening the economic sanctions for violations.

In response, 11 associations and organizations including the Korea Federation of SMEs, the Korea Venture Business Association, and the Korea Startup Forum issued a statement demanding that the National Assembly revise the strengthened penalty regulations back to the current standards.

The industry stated, "We are concerned about the significant damage to the domestic industry caused by penalties excessively imposed beyond the scope of responsibility," and added, "We have continuously requested the Commission to revise the penalty regulations to be based on related sales."

They further expressed concern, saying, "Penalties based on total sales could strangle the entire industrial sector," and "It is currently impossible to predict what kind of damage may occur to the domestic industry in the future."

They also noted, "If penalties are imposed including sales from business areas unrelated to personal information processing, companies that intended to newly enter the data utilization sector will give up on business entry," and predicted, "Ultimately, the emergence of innovative services leading the 4th Industrial Revolution and jobs in the data field will also significantly decrease."

They added, "If unbearable penalties are imposed on venture companies and startups, they will not be able to continue their businesses," and warned, "This will soon lead to the collapse of the growth engine of the domestic industry."

Finally, they requested, "It is up to the National Assembly to ensure that the Personal Information Protection Act functions as a legal system suitable for the digital age," and urged, "Please revise the penalty regulations in the National Assembly so that they can be maintained based on 'related sales' as in the current law, to prevent cutting off the ladder of future growth in the Republic of Korea."

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