Costco was sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission for operating the membership cancellation process, required for store use, more difficult than the sign-up process.
On the 24th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it issued a warning to Costco Korea for violating the Electronic Commerce Act.
While operating the Executive Membership, a business membership, Costco allowed members to sign up through online electronic documents, but required cancellations to be done only by visiting the store.
This violated the Electronic Commerce Act's "obligation to provide online complete services," which stipulates that if membership registration is done via electronic documents, cancellation must also be possible through electronic documents.
Businesses engaged in electronic commerce must allow consumers to perform membership registration, contract offers, and provision of consumer-related information via electronic documents, and also allow membership cancellation, withdrawal of offers, contract termination, cancellation, or modification through electronic documents.
The Fair Trade Commission stated, "Through this measure, as of January 27, Costco has fully improved its system so that Executive members can cancel their membership electronically without visiting the store," and added, "This will alleviate consumer inconvenience and enhance consumer awareness of online complete services."
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