[Bills in Focus] 'Shrinkflation' warnings, platform monopoly regulations

(123rf)

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods

Proposed by Rep. Hwang Hee (Democratic Party of Korea)

● An increasing number of food manufacturing companies have been reducing the volume of their products while maintaining or raising their prices. However, these changes in quantity are not as easy for consumers to notice as price increases. Therefore, this amendment aims to protect the consumer’s right to information by requiring companies to clearly indicate any changes made to product volume.

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Securities-related Class Action Act

Proposed by Rep. Kang Sung-hee (Progressive Party)

● To provide broader protection to financial consumers, this amendment expands the scope of class actions beyond the cases related to securities to encompass general financial transactions and allows class action against corporate directors and the heads of conglomerates.

Pending Bill: Act on Online Platform Monopoly Regulation

Proposed by Rep. Park Ju-min (Democratic Party of Korea)

● Due to the practical limits in applying the existing Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act to the digital market, this bill establishes a new monopoly act that addresses the needs of the digital platform market to promote fair online transaction practices and protect the rights and interests of online platform users. The act defines an online platform business operator as “market-dominant” if it has an average annual sale of 3 trillion won ($2.35 billion) or more and a monthly average of 10 million users or more.

Promulgated Bill: Enforcement Decree of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies

Competent Authority: Financial Services Commission

● This bill proposes a two-year postponement of the introduction period for the internal accounting control regulation system for stock-listed corporations with total assets of more than 2 trillion won and postpones the application period by five years for corporations with less than 2 trillion won in total assets.

Administrative Announcement: Act on Mediation of Disputes Related to Fair Trade

Competent Authority: Fair Trade Commission

● This bill consolidates provisions related to dispute mediation that were previously dispersed across various acts into one new act to enhance the uniformity and efficiency of the legal system. It also streamlines dispute mediation procedures by introducing a simplified mediation system and extending the subcommittee system.

The Korea Herald republishes a weekly legislative report by local law firm DR & AJU LLC to provide the latest information on bills approved, proposed, pending and set to be promulgated. -- Ed.

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For any queries about the bills, contact cr@draju.com.

By Korea Herald(khnews@heraldcorp.com)