온라인 중개 플랫폼에서 소비자보호에 관한 비교법적 고찰 -일본과 한국을 중심으로

Abstract

As the role of online platforms grows with the transition to the digital economy, and transactions through them become common, the consumer problem in this market is one of the legislative tasks to be solved. In the case of Japan, the Specific Platform Fairness Act was enacted and implemented in 2020 and the Transaction Platform Consumer Protection Act in 2021 for fairness and consumer protection in the digital platform market. Among them, the Transaction Platform Consumer Protection Act regulates matters related to consumer protection on online platforms, which is a reference for amending the E-Commerce Act. First, the subject of regulation of the Japanese Transaction Platform Consumer Protection Act is digital platforms, and digital platforms where transactions between operators and consumers take place. However, the terms and definitions of mail order brokerage or online platform services are stipulated in our E-Commerce Act and all amendments, but the disciplinary targets include transactions between businesses and consumers as well as between ordinary individuals. As a result, it is causing confusion in the application of the E-Commerce Act. Second, it is the Minister of the Consumer Agency's right to demand measures to prevent consumer damage caused by consumer transactions on digital platforms and the actions of operators accordingly. This point specifies the role of operators to prevent the occurrence or spread of consumer damage, and it can be said that it should be reflected in amending the E-Commerce Act that does not contain such contents. Finally, it is the diversification of platforms, and it is a solution to problems caused by the emergence and development of platforms aimed at individual transactions to revitalize individual transactions. Therefore, it is not a problem on platforms where the seller's status is limited to merchants or operators, but it is very important to distinguish the seller's status on platforms that do not limit it or platforms that can only be traded by those who are not operators. This is because it is directly related to whether the consumer protection acts can be applied to the transaction. The Japanese Consumer Agency has established and distributed guidelines to solve this problem. Of course, it cannot be said that a complete solution standard is presented, but it is meaningful in that it provided basic data to solve the difficulties of the operator.