"Delivery App Win-Win Talks to Conclude This Month... Efforts for Rational Improvement Plan"
Kang Ki-jung, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, is speaking at the urgent inquiry on the 'Timon and Wemakeprice Settlement and Refund Delay Incident' held on the 30th at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
Han Ki-jung, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, said regarding the push for legal amendments to prevent a recurrence of the 'Timf incident,' "We are in close consultation with relevant ministries and the ruling party," and added, "We will finalize and announce the final plan as soon as possible."
At a press briefing held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 2nd, Chairman Han stated, "We have completed a public hearing on the standards for online intermediary platforms subject to the Large-scale Distribution Business Act, payment settlement deadlines, and the level of separate management of sales proceeds."
Earlier, the Fair Trade Commission announced plans to amend the law to include online intermediary transaction platforms above a certain scale as large-scale distributors, applying mandatory provisions such as payment settlement and separate management to prevent a recurrence of the Timf unpaid settlement incident. However, considering industry concerns, multiple proposals with different legal application standards and regulatory contents were presented, and a final plan will be prepared after collecting opinions from various sectors through public hearings.
Regarding discussions within the delivery platform-merchant win-win council, he said, "We will do our best to come up with reasonable improvement measures." The council was launched in July under government leadership to devise reasonable win-win measures between delivery app operators and merchants, including self-employed individuals.
The government has held meetings on major topics with strong demands from the self-employed, such as reducing commission burdens, enhancing commission transparency, and improving unfair practices through the council, and has requested corresponding win-win measures from delivery app operators. However, during the five meetings held so far, the gap between the positions of merchants and platform companies has not narrowed, and concrete discussions on win-win measures have yet to take place.
Chairman Han explained, "No win-win plan has yet emerged regarding delivery commissions, which is a matter of interest to small business owners," but added, "Everyone attending the council shares an understanding of the difficult situation faced by small business owners."
Regarding concerns that amendments to the Fair Trade Act for regulating giant platforms could escalate into trade issues, Chairman Han explained, "The amended law will be applied without discrimination between domestic and foreign businesses," and "the possibility of conflict with trade-related norms is low."
He further elaborated, "The introduction of a post-presumption method instead of the previously controversial pre-designation method was also made considering such concerns," and added, "We will continue to discuss issues closely with relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 9th that it will push for amendments to the Fair Trade Act to prevent unfair practices by platform giants and respond swiftly to illegal acts. Although the amendment includes provisions such as strengthened burden of proof and increased fines ceilings, the previous stance of enacting a separate law including the 'pre-designation system' has been withdrawn.
Regarding the 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy Report' scheduled for publication at the end of the year, he emphasized, "We are currently conducting a fact-finding survey and will strive to publish the report as planned."
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