[New Year's Message] Seongwook Jo: "The Onple Act is the Minimum Safeguard to Prevent Abuse by Monopoly Platforms"

Strict Law Enforcement Will Be Applied to Unfair Practices Threatening Small Business Owners by Giant Platforms

Jongwook Cho, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission. (File photo)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Cho Sung-wook, Chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), emphasized on the 3rd, "With the enactment of the Online Platform Fairness Act and the complete revision of the Electronic Commerce Act, it is necessary to establish minimum protective measures for tenant businesses and online consumers who are placed in blind spots of the changing economic environment."

That afternoon, at the New Year's ceremony held in the KFTC main conference room, Chairman Cho stated in his New Year's address, "We must enforce laws more strictly and swiftly against unfair practices by giant platforms that threaten the livelihoods of small business owners."

He viewed regulating unfair practices by platforms as essential to laying the foundation for sustainable innovation. Chairman Cho said, "In the digital economy, due to unique concentration phenomena and network effects, monopolistic platforms easily emerge, and once their position is solidified, they are highly likely to employ anti-competitive strategies. We must consistently and strictly respond to acts where platforms exploit their dual role as both referee and player to favor themselves or obstruct transactions of competing platforms, thereby stifling competition and innovation."

Chairman Cho also pledged efforts to create a market environment where both dominant and subordinate parties coexist harmoniously. He said, "Through expanding the distribution of standard contracts, strengthening cooperation with local governments on soft norms such as fair trade agreements and guidelines, and exploring various solutions for win-win cooperation between large and small businesses, we must cultivate a foundation where the subordinate party (Eul) can grow and innovate independently. We should provide sufficient information to small and medium enterprises and small business owners to induce improvements in transaction conditions and enhance the effectiveness of subcontract payment adjustment negotiation systems, thereby expanding systems to strengthen the bargaining power of the subordinate party."

To this end, the KFTC plans to strengthen tailored monitoring focused on vulnerable industries this year, while closely inspecting transaction practices in sectors where the value chains of industries such as automotive and distribution are rapidly changing. Furthermore, based on extensive law enforcement experience and accumulated data on disputes between dominant and subordinate parties (Gap and Eul), the commission will establish and advance a system to prevent and rectify damages caused by unfair trade practices.

Alongside this, Chairman Cho stated that this year they will establish sound governance and transaction order for large business groups and stabilize the restructured market discipline. He said, "Considering changes in the corporate management environment, we need to review and rationally improve policies for large business groups, such as the designation system for the same person. While intensively monitoring unfair internal transactions that undermine fair competition in the main arenas of small and medium enterprises, large corporations themselves must continue efforts to open the doors of their closed internal markets to the outside."

He also pledged to reinforce the response system to unfair practices more swiftly and substantively and to strengthen the damage relief system. Chairman Cho emphasized, "Internally, we must seek work improvement and organizational restructuring plans to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in case handling, as well as appropriate role-sharing plans with affiliated organizations or local governments. To improve the effectiveness of damage relief, we should expand the scope of dispute mediation, enhance means to make mediation settlements more effective, and expand and strengthen infrastructure supporting vulnerable groups in responding to unfair practice damages."

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