택배관련 법규의 입법방향

Abstract

The 1990's was the turning point of private courier service industry in South Korea. Due to the booming of television home shopping and the development and diversity of communication channels including internet, the private transaction not only between commercial companies but also between companies and consumers or inter-individual transactions were on the most activated step than ever before. Regretfully, however, there are no legislative basic regulations controlling this emerging business. Although there are some articles in Korean Commercial Code regarding to the ground transportations, basically those rules were generated on the purpose of the commercial carriers with heavy cargo thus it is not for the small parcel or courier business. Meanwhile, there is an alternatively rule, the Terms and Conditions which was provided by the business operators. It is to regulate the right and obligation of parties at the courier contract and to settle the arguments between them. As a matter of fact, the liability of carrier and compensation for loss or damage of the shipment has been mainly relied on this "unilateral rule."Given the above circumstances, this article tried to provide a proper legal frame as a model legislation of Courier Services not only in the public policy related field but also specially focused on the legal liability of service providers comparing to the Korean Commercial Code.