디지털콘텐츠 공급자의 담보책임 - 유럽연합 디지털콘텐츠지침안을 중심으로 -

Abstract

On 9 December 2015, the European Commission announced the Proposal for a Directive of European Parliament and of the Council on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content to contribute to faster growth of the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. After a series of negotiations, the JHA Council adopted the general approach of the proposal in June 2017. This article distinguishes itself from prior studies by introducing the Proposal to Korea. The objective of Proposal is to clarify the rights and duties of European consumers who conclude an online or a cross-border contract within EU member states. The Proposal mainly contains the lack of conformity of digital content with the contract and the related liability for warranty of the supplier. Since Korean law does not stipulate the liability for warranty of the supplier in a digital content trade, there should be enough legislative discussions on applicable rules, considering the unique nature of digital content. The rules should include how and when to determine the lack of conformity with the contract, and how to allocate burden of proof and how to provide remedies to consumers. This essay considers that the digital content trade is better to be regulated under the special act like the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce or the Content Industry Promotion Act, unless the content of consumer contract law is incorporated into the Korean Civil Act.