Kang Ki-jung, Fair Trade Commission Chairman
"Checking for Consumer Rights Violations"
The Fair Trade Commission will launch an ex officio investigation next month into unfair terms and conditions of gift certificate and e-coupon issuers. This move comes in response to concerns that mobile gift certificates are being issued regardless of the issuers' payment capabilities, prompting a comprehensive assessment of the situation.
At a press briefing on the 14th, Han Ki-jung, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, announced, "We will initiate an ex officio investigation into the terms and conditions of gift certificate and e-coupon issuers in September." Chairman Han emphasized, "We will examine whether clauses related to cancellation, refunds, and validity periods unjustly restrict consumer rights."
He also stated, "With the revised Electronic Financial Transactions Act coming into effect on the 15th of next month, introducing obligations such as separate management of prepaid funds, we will incorporate these into the standard terms for new types of gift certificates to strengthen consumer protection."
This is part of efforts to enhance supervision over gift certificate issuers and consumer rights, which have been pointed out as falling into regulatory blind spots under current laws.
Earlier, on the 7th, the government announced a plan to improve the system by enforcing compliance with payment settlement deadlines and imposing separate management obligations to prevent a recurrence of the Tmon Meok (Tmon) incident, through a joint effort of related ministries.
Regarding system improvements, Chairman Han said, "We are pursuing amendments to the Large-scale Distribution Business Act to include platform intermediaries as subjects of application," adding, "We will also consider introducing measures to enhance transparency in transactions with tenant sellers."
On specific measures, he conveyed, "After gathering opinions from industry, experts, and related ministries, we will prepare a bill amendment within this month and submit it to the National Assembly."
Chairman Han also announced that, concerning consumer damage compensation, "Following the travel, accommodation, and airline ticket sectors, we will initiate additional dispute resolution procedures in the gift certificate sector within this month."
The final tally of applicants participating in the collective dispute resolution after failing to receive refunds for travel, accommodation, and airline tickets from Tmon Meok reached 9,028. This surpasses the approximately 7,200 participants in the 2021 Merge Point incident collective resolution. The payment amount involved is about 25.6 billion KRW.
Chairman Han added, "To expedite damage relief, we established a dedicated response team at the Consumer Agency and prioritized collective dispute resolution applications in the travel, accommodation, and airline ticket sectors," further stating, "We will proceed with decisions on whether to initiate procedures, public announcements of initiation, fact-finding investigations, and final dispute resolution decisions as swiftly as possible, aiming to complete resolution decisions by the end of the year."
Regarding the ongoing investigation into Tmon Meok's alleged violations of the Electronic Commerce Act, he emphasized that necessary measures will be taken if violations are confirmed.
The Fair Trade Commission dispatched investigators to the headquarters of Tmon and Wemakeprice on the 25th of last month, immediately after the Tmon Meok incident occurred, conducting on-site inspections and is currently investigating compliance with obligations such as payment refunds and supply of goods and services under the Electronic Commerce Act.
Chairman Han stated, "The investigation is currently underway," and added, "If legal violations are confirmed, we will take necessary actions and actively support consumers who file damage compensation lawsuits."
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