[Legiscope] 230 Trillion Won E-Commerce Market, 40 Platform Regulation Bills Piling Up but '0' Passed

20 bills in the 21st National Assembly, and 20 bills in the 22nd National Assembly. A total of 40 bills related to monopoly regulation and fairness in intermediary transactions of online platforms have been proposed across the two assemblies, but not a single one has passed the plenary session. All 20 bills proposed in the 21st Assembly were discarded due to the expiration of the term, and the 20 bills pouring in again in the 22nd Assembly (19 pending, 1 withdrawn) are piling up without crossing the threshold of the National Policy Committee.

Same Problems, 19 Bills, 0 Agreements

Self-preferencing, tying, multi-homing restrictions, and sales payment settlement cycles. The issues commonly targeted by the 19 bills are the same. However, this is also the reason why there are 19 bills. Due to a lack of consensus on the scope and method of regulation, each lawmaker is proposing their own bill.

The bill proposed by Representative Chun Joon-ho (2024-10-02) argues for ex-ante regulation, citing the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Japan's special act as precedents, while the bill proposed by Representative Kim Hyun-jung (2024-08-06) focuses on the issue of transaction practices, stating, "Even the sales payment settlement cycle has not been legislated in a 230 trillion won market." The bill proposed by Representative Kim Nam-geun (2024-10-18) garnered the most signatures with a joint endorsement of 58 lawmakers, but the work to find common ground among the bills has not even begun. In the 21st Assembly, all 20 bills were discarded under the same structure.

In addition to the platform regulation laws, legislative pressure on the digital sector is expanding. Over the past 60 days, 24 amendments to the Information and Communications Network Act, 13 amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act, and 6 bills related to artificial intelligence have been proposed.

Reprieve for Platforms, Vacuum for Merchants

As bills continue to be pending, the light and dark divide. For large platform operators like Kakao, Naver, and Coupang, it means that the prohibition of self-preferencing and the obligation to install information exchange blocking devices have been delayed once again. Considering the pattern of discard in two consecutive assemblies, observations suggest that the possibility of short-term passage in the 22nd Assembly is not high.

On the flip side, fatigue is accumulating. Small business owners and small and medium-sized merchants dependent on platforms may have to spend another National Assembly without even the sales payment settlement cycle being legally determined. With the e-commerce market exceeding 230 trillion won based on the statement of proposed reasons, delayed settlements are a realistic burden directly pressuring the cash flow of micro-enterprises.

Meaning of 40 Attempts to Enact a New Law, 0 Passed

According to Legiscope analysis, there are currently 50 laws that have been proposed 10 or more times with not a single one passed. The Fair Hiring Procedure Act (81 bills), Minimum Wage Act (53 bills), and Juvenile Act (50 bills) are representative examples. However, these are cases where amendments to existing laws have been repeatedly proposed. Like the online platform regulation bill, a case where attempting to enact a new law 40 times and not succeeding even once is unusual. This means that the state of having no regulatory framework itself in a market worth 230 trillion won is continuing into a second National Assembly.

Large platform operators should not view this deadlock as buying time. Since the enforcement of the EU DMA, the global regulatory stance has already set its direction, and the moment the National Policy Committee begins the merged review of the 19 bills, the speed of bill processing could rapidly accelerate. Proactively presenting self-regulation proposals could be the last window to exercise influence over the content of the bills.

From the perspective of small and medium-sized merchants, the strategy of waiting for the bills to pass has already failed for two assemblies. It is realistic to secure key transaction conditions, such as the sales payment settlement cycle and fee structures, independently through industry-specific consultative bodies or individual contract negotiations.

This article was written based on Legiscope, a legislative tracking engine built by News Epoch.