KakaoT and Danggeun Market to Undergo User Protection Evaluation by KCC

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] Kakao Mobility and Danggeun Market have been included in the user protection task evaluation by the Korea Communications Commission.

On the 30th, the Korea Communications Commission held a plenary meeting and deliberated and approved the 2022 user protection task evaluation plan for telecommunications service providers. The user protection task evaluation is conducted annually on major telecommunications services under the Telecommunications Business Act to prevent user damage and ensure that users' legitimate opinions and complaints are handled more quickly and efficiently.

This year, considering factors such as user scale and the occurrence of user complaints, the evaluation will be conducted on a total of 42 providers (33 excluding duplicates) in the fields of carrier telecommunications (mobile phones, etc.) and value-added telecommunications (app markets, etc.).

In this regard, with the increase in non-face-to-face services leading to a surge in users of value-added telecommunications providers, last year the evaluation was conducted for the first time in the fields of online video services (OTT), personal broadcasting, shopping, and delivery. This year, mobility and secondhand trading sectors have also been included in the evaluation targets.

The evaluation criteria were strengthened and newly established by reflecting opinions from internal and external experts, amendments to laws, and changes in the telecommunications service usage environment such as the rapid increase in non-face-to-face services. In particular, the scoring for user notification and damage compensation indicators during communication failures was expanded, and improvements on deficiencies identified in the previous year's evaluation results are also assessed.

The Korea Communications Commission plans to provide various incentives, including awards in addition to reductions in fines under the Telecommunications Business Act, to outstanding providers based on the user protection task evaluation results.

Chairman Han Sang-hyuk stated, "In line with the expansion of the influence of online platforms, we have added evaluations for new services with rapidly increasing users and improved evaluation items focusing on protecting users' rights and interests. We will also improve the user protection procedures of telecommunications providers according to the changing telecommunications service environment to create an environment where users can conveniently use telecommunications services anytime and anywhere."

Meanwhile, at the meeting, the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act was also approved, specifying the standard for enforcement fines against providers who fail to comply with orders to resubmit materials during fact-finding investigations under the Telecommunications Business Act, changing it from the existing 'sales amount' to 'average daily sales amount.'