Fair Trade Commission reorganizes ICT task force... Establishes new Digital International Cooperation division

ICT Jeondang Team Reorganized into Digital Market Response Team
Composed of Five Divisions Including Digital Monopoly and Gap-Eul
Focus on International Cooperation and Market Communication Strengthening

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has reorganized its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Task Force into the Digital Market Response Team. This move aims to strengthen the response system for the rapidly changing platform market and other related areas.

On the 27th, the KFTC announced that it restructured the existing ICT Task Force into the Digital Market Response Team, considering the multifaceted nature of the digital platform market and technological advancements. The ICT Task Force was launched in November 2019 as a monitoring division dedicated to investigating cases in the ICT sector. In February 2020, a policy division was added to address policy issues related to the digital economy. In January last year, the commission also pushed for the enactment of the Online Platform Fairness Act.

The reason behind the KFTC’s reorganization of the ICT Task Force lies in the multifaceted nature of the digital market. According to the KFTC, the multifaceted structure of the digital economy creates complex issues involving monopolies, power imbalances, and consumer concerns, necessitating a specialized response system by sector. A representative example is the “dark pattern,” which restricts consumer choice through hidden information or deceptive tactics during transactions.

Another reason is the need for cooperation with overseas authorities. The KFTC holds the position that digital big tech companies have an information advantage over competition authorities, making collaboration with foreign regulators essential. The rapidly changing market situation has also increased the need to establish communication channels among related ministries, industries, and experts.

The Digital Market Response Team is composed of five divisions: Digital Monopoly, Digital Power Imbalance, Digital Consumer, and two newly established divisions?Digital International Cooperation and Market Communication. Each division oversees its respective policies and cases. The previous ICT Task Force, which consisted of five monitoring divisions including policy, app market, intellectual property rights, and semiconductors, has been absorbed into the Digital Monopoly division.

Specifically, the Digital Monopoly division will strengthen monitoring of preferential treatment by dominant market platforms and acts that obstruct competing platforms. The Digital Power Imbalance division will focus on digital power imbalance issues faced by small and medium-sized merchants. Plans include establishing coexistence measures among platforms, tenant companies, and small business owners through the enactment of the Online Platform Fairness Act. The Digital Consumer division will monitor and correct new types of consumer deception such as dark patterns. To this end, it will promote a comprehensive revision of the Electronic Commerce Act to keep pace with changes in the online-centered consumer environment.

The International Cooperation and Market Communication divisions will focus on enhancing international cooperation and communication with market participants. The International Cooperation division plans to continuously create opportunities for collaboration with overseas competition authorities, including those from the Group of Seven (G7) countries. The Market Communication division is tasked with expanding communication channels with market participants to improve government understanding of the digital market and technology. It will also establish a human network composed of external digital technology experts in areas such as data and algorithms. The Market Communication division will soon announce monitoring results for five major industrial sectors, including finance, platform mobility, and automobiles.

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