- Discuss policies, systems, and pending issues between Korean and Japanese consumer authorities -
Cho Hong-sun, vice chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (Chairman Han Ki-jung, hereinafter referred to as the 'Fair Trade Commission') discussed various opinions with Yutaka Arai, Minister of the Japanese Consumer Agency, on the current status of consumer policies and implementation systems in each country at the Fair Trade Commission (Dasom 3-ro, Sejong City) at 4 p.m. on April 16 (Tue).
Vice Chairman Cho explained that this year, the Korea Fair Trade Commission has established and implemented various policies with "creating an environment where consumer rights and interests are guaranteed" as its core task in order to "establish a fair market economy that supports people's livelihoods and innovation." In particular, noting that the consumer policies that the Korea Fair Trade Commission has recently focused on are all based on the transition to the digital economy and the increase in cross-border transactions, it introduced countermeasures against △ online eye-gaming (aka "dark pattern") and measures to protect consumers in the △ game sector.
First, Vice Chairman Cho introduced the tasks that the Korea Fair Trade Commission has pursued since last year to prevent consumer damage from online cheating (dark pattern) and explained that the "Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, etc." (hereinafter referred to as the "Electronic Commerce Act") was revised to resolve the legislative gap earlier this year.
In addition, Vice Chairman Cho introduced the experience of handling probability-based items handled by the Korea Fair Trade Commission earlier this year, as well as consumer protection measures in the game sector, which were recently announced at two public discussions (1.30, 4.2). After the end of the game service, the standard terms and conditions were revised so that game companies could operate a refund window for at least 30 days, and the revision of the law was currently under legislative notice to introduce a consensual resolution system under the Electronic Commerce Act.
Minister Yutaka Arai expressed a lot of interest in the policy efforts of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, introducing policies that the Korea Consumer Agency has been pursuing in response to the rapid transition to the digital economy and the increase in international transactions. The two authorities formed a deep consensus on the importance of close cooperation among consumer authorities as recent consumer problems are occurring across borders.
Meanwhile, the two authorities, along with China, have held the Korea-Japan-China Consumer Policy Council, a director-level consultative body between the consumer authorities of the three countries, since 2004. The 10th meeting scheduled for the second half of this year will be held in Korea, and the two countries will continue to maintain close cooperative relations.
Vice Chairman Cho expressed his gratitude for the delegation of the Japan Consumer Agency visiting Korea and suggested that mutual cooperation between the two authorities be further strengthened in the future. In the future, the Korea Fair Trade Commission plans to further strengthen international cooperation with foreign consumer policy authorities to actively respond to consumer policy and law enforcement.