Inspection of Overseas Companies' Domestic Representative Designations
Aliexpress, Temu, Airbnb, BYD in Compliance
MS, PayPal, Zoom and Others Required to Change Representatives
It has been confirmed that companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft (MS), and OpenAI, despite having Korean subsidiaries, have designated separate entities as their domestic representatives in South Korea.
On September 25, the Personal Information Protection Commission announced that it has instructed these 16 overseas companies to change their domestic representatives and will verify the results of these actions.
The Commission explained that it conducted an inspection of the current status of overseas companies' domestic representative designations ahead of the enforcement of the amended Personal Information Protection Act, which will take effect on October 2.
According to the amendment, if an overseas company establishes a subsidiary in South Korea, that subsidiary must be designated as its domestic representative, and the headquarters is required to supervise and manage its work. The designation must be completed within six months of enforcement, and failure to meet the requirements or insufficient supervision and management may result in fines. The domestic representative designation system was introduced to address complaints and provide remedies for damages related to the handling of personal information of South Korean citizens.
The inspection found that e-commerce companies such as Aliexpress, Temu, Airbnb, BYD, and Oracle, which had previously raised concerns over legal compliance last year, have designated their Korean subsidiaries as their domestic representatives.
In contrast, 16 overseas companies-including major global tech firms-were found to have designated law firms or separate entities as their domestic representatives, despite having Korean subsidiaries. These companies include Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, PayPal, Roblox, Supercell, Zoom, Agoda, Booking.com, Intel, LINE, Roborock, Shein, Salesforce, and Spotify.
A representative of the Personal Information Protection Commission stated, "We will guide these companies to change their domestic representatives and will check the results of these actions," adding, "We will also continue to monitor whether there are any overseas businesses that meet the requirements but have not yet designated a domestic representative."
The official further commented, "For overseas companies without a local address or office, it is difficult to handle user complaints or provide remedies for damages, so we will strengthen efforts such as publishing guides and promoting information to ensure that the personal information rights of domestic users are fully protected."
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