Foreign e-commerce platforms including Temu and Shein will be required to designate local representatives to operate in South Korea. Penalties for repeat violations of e-commerce laws will be strengthened, with fines increasing up to double the original amount.
The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 11th that it has prepared amendments to the enforcement decree and rules of the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, with a legislative notice period running until the 20th of next month.
Under the amendments, foreign businesses without domestic offices must designate a local representative if they meet certain criteria. This applies to companies with annual revenue of 1 trillion won or more, those with an average of 1 million or more monthly domestic users over the previous three months, or those from whom the FTC has requested document submissions. These businesses must designate a local representative, report to the FTC, and disclose this information on their online mall's main page. Designated representatives are obligated to take necessary measures to resolve consumer complaints and disputes, and must cooperate with FTC investigations.
The measure follows continued criticism that it has been difficult to establish clear accountability when consumer damages occur, even as overseas platforms such as AliExpress, Temu, and Shein rapidly expand their domestic influence. The government has been accelerating regulatory reforms, including commissioning related research projects in response to calls for overseas platform regulation.
Penalties for e-commerce law violations will also be strengthened. For repeat violations, surcharges can be increased by up to 50% for a first repeat offense and up to 100% for four or more repeat violations.
Additionally, online shopping mall operators will be required to disclose review management standards to prevent arbitrary deletion or manipulation of consumer reviews. Information including review writing eligibility, posting periods, rating criteria, deletion standards, and appeal procedures must be accessible from the online mall's main page.
The scope of personal information collection by consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platforms will also be reduced. Going forward, secondhand trading platforms will no longer need to collect detailed seller information such as name, date of birth, and address—only phone numbers and email addresses will be required. If identity has been verified through an authorized authentication agency, phone number verification alone will suffice.
The FTC plans to gather stakeholder opinions during the legislative notice period before finalizing the regulatory changes following review by the Ministry of Government Legislation.