The maximum fine is 500 million won! South Korea's new e-commerce regulations will be officially implemented from February 1

It is reported that the Korea Fair Trade Commission said on the 31st that it will begin to implement the "Guidelines for Reviewing Unfair Trading Behaviors in Online Shopping Malls" in February, which includes screening standards for unfair behaviors and some violation cases.

The new guidelines prohibit online shopping malls from harming the economic interests of sellers unless sales incentives are set in advance , and say that charging sellers advertising fees, server fees and asking for donations and sponsorship funds will be the focus of such legal inspections.

In addition, it stipulates that in order for online shopping malls to properly and legally obtain sales benefits , the guidelines implemented must be related to promotions and beneficial to sellers . If these legal provisions and guidelines are violated, the Fair Trade Commission can impose a fine not exceeding the delivery price or annual rent , and if it is difficult to calculate sales, a fine of not more than 500 million won will be imposed .

Other types of violations are also regulated, such as prohibition of improper returns , transfer of promotion costs, and requirements for management information. It is prohibited to return items received by the online center to the seller on the grounds that the consumer canceled the purchase .

In the interest-free installment payment activities of credit cards , the act of passing all installment payment fees to the seller , and the act of requiring the seller to provide personnel information for the purpose of direct transactions with consumers , is equivalent to violating the requirements of improper transfer of promotional activity fees and prohibiting the provision of business information.

It is reported that the new guidelines apply to online shopping malls with annual sales exceeding 100 billion won , and platform intermediary service providers such as NAVER will be subject to the online platform fairness law being promoted by the Fair Trade Commission .

Among these guidelines, the regulations on the prohibition of transferring promotional expenses will come into effect on January 1, 2022, after the already determined application period for the guidelines ends (end of December next year ) , and the other regulations will apply from February 1 this year .

South Korea

New e-commerce regulations

Seller