Ali and Temu indiscriminate attack
If autonomy is not possible, consent voting system is introduced
Zhongtemu entered Korea in August last year.
Users increase 10 times in half a year
Fair Trade Commission: “Designate a domestic agent”
An advertisement for ‘Ali Express’, China’s Alibaba’s e-commerce platform, is posted on a billboard on a subway platform in Seoul. [한주형 기자]
The Fair Trade Commission has stepped in to put a stop to the indiscriminate attacks on the Korean market by Chinese e-commerce companies. Following the recent on-site investigation of AliExpress’ domestic corporation, the company believes that it is necessary to designate a domestic agent for Temu and plans to speed up the revision of related laws.
In addition, it has been confirmed that big tech e-commerce platforms, including those in China and the United States, are pursuing the signing of an ‘autonomous agreement’ to ensure that they voluntarily fulfill their consumer protection obligations.
According to Maeil Business Newspaper coverage on the 8th, the government, which has launched a government-wide task force (TF) to respond to the aggressive territorial expansion of Chinese direct purchase platforms, is pushing to conclude autonomous agreements with direct purchase platform companies, led by the Fair Trade Commission. This is expected to include not only China’s Ali and Temu, but also American companies such as Meta, which has a lot of sales on the platform, and Amazon, which has a significant number of domestic users. The explanation is that global e-commerce platforms that are widely used by Korean consumers, without discriminating against the nationality of the platform company, are subject to the autonomous agreement.
The reason the Fair Trade Commission brought out the autonomous agreement card is that it is not easy to hold platform companies responsible under the current law even if consumers who purchase goods through overseas platforms suffer damage. Because platform companies simply perform a trading brokerage function, they have management responsibilities, but are free from responsibility for the product itself.
A government official said, “In order to strengthen the consumer protection responsibilities of platform companies, we plan to conclude an autonomous agreement first,” and added, “We will also introduce a consent voting system to revise the Electronic Commerce Act to quickly provide relief for consumer damage.”
Although the Fair Trade Commission intervenes in the autonomous agreement, it is not mandatory. On the other hand, the consent settlement system is compulsory because platform companies must prepare effective compensation and compensation measures for the same type, small amount, or multiple damages. However, the Electronic Commerce Act must be amended.
Temu [사진 = 연합뉴스]
The Fair Trade Commission also drew its sword against Temu, which rose to fourth place last month, surpassing G Market (5.53 million) in the ranking of domestic e-commerce platform users. When the company entered Korea in August last year, the number of domestic users of the Temu application was 510,000, but last month it reached 5.8 million, a 10-fold increase in the number of users in just six months.
However, unlike Ali, Temu does not have a domestic agent or office. He means that even if the Fair Trade Commission wants to conduct an on-site investigation, it has no place to go.
Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission is known to be requesting Temu to establish a domestic agency directly or indirectly. The reason it cannot be enforced is because this is also an amendment to the Electronic Commerce Act. Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission plans to promptly revise the Electronic Commerce Act to force the designation of a domestic agent if Temu persists without designating a domestic agent.
The reason the Fair Trade Commission is putting pressure on Chinese e-commerce companies in all directions is because the number of counterfeit and hazardous goods coming from China has increased rapidly, and consumer complaints are also increasing rapidly.
According to the Korea Customs Service, the scale of crackdowns on overseas direct purchases from China, which was 7.8 billion won in 2022, increased eight-fold in one year to 65.5 billion won last year. In 2020, the scale of the crackdown was only 1.5 billion won. It has increased 43 times in three years.
An official from the Korea Customs Service said, “In the case of express cargo from China, we first conduct X-ray inspection on all parcels,” and added, “We directly open and check delivery boxes that are suspicious during the X-ray inspection.” Nevertheless, many people point out that the volume of shipments from China is increasing explosively and that there are many loopholes in the Customs Service’s crackdown.
According to the Consumer Federation of Korea, the number of complaints from Ali users is also rapidly increasing. In 2022, there were only 93 cases, but last year it increased by 400% to 465 cases. This year, about 150 complaints were received from Ali users in January alone.
A government official said, “There are also issues with personal information leakage and patent infringement, so the number of government departments participating in the pan-government task force will continue to increase.”
2024-03-09 16:04:12
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