Regulator seeks to revise e-commerce trade law amid non-contact trend

SEOUL, March 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's corporate watchdog said Sunday it plans to revise a law governing e-commerce transactions as an increase in online platform-based trade raised the need to better protect consumers amid a non-contact trend.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KTFC) said it will seek to revise the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce as the law, enacted in 2002, has not properly protected consumers in the fast-changing e-commerce market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the use of delivery apps and other social media platforms as people have refrained from visiting offline shops over concerns of infection risks.

Under the plan, the regulator plans to take steps to swiftly block online transactions of defective or hazardous goods. When authorities issue an order for recall, e-commerce operators should cooperate in retrieving and destroying such products.

The KFTC will also seek to make online platform providers take due responsibility for consumer damage occurring from online transactions.

Currently, online platform operators partly forgo such responsibility using their status as brokers between merchants registered as sellers on the platforms and consumers.

In regard to consumer complaints about goods transactions using social media platforms, a delay in delivery or a failure to receive parcels topped the list with 60 percent, according to data by the Korea Consumer Agency.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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