Republic of Korea: Introduced Act on Fair Intermediate Transactions on Online Platforms (Bill no. 2107743)

On 28 January 2021, the Act on Fair Intermediate Transactions on Online Platforms (Bill no. 2107743) was introduced in the National Assembly of South Korea. The Bill addresses unfair trade practices against online platform users and includes obligations for platforms concerning contracts, dispute resolution systems, standards, and legal liability. In particular, the Bill would require platforms to sign an online platform intermediary transaction contract with their users that includes information on the transaction duration, termination, circumstances under which the parties can make changes and their obligations. The Fair Trade Commission would be given the power to adopt a standard contract for online platform intermediary transactions to ensure the fairness of the provisions. Furthermore, the online platform intermediary would be required to notify the users of the reason for a contract termination 30 days before the intended termination day. In addition, the Bill would prohibit online platforms from unfairly using their trading status to require users to acquire goods or services or offer specific benefits and would require establishing a dispute resolution mechanism. Finally, the Bill specifies that online platforms providing intermediary transaction services would be legally liable for violations of the Act and required to pay compensation for damages to the user.