[Bills in Focus] Shareholder rights, e-commerce safeguards

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Commercial Act

Proposed by Rep. Kim Hyun-jung (Democratic Party of Korea)

● Although corporate directors have a duty of loyalty towards their company, they have no obligations toward their shareholders. Therefore, to protect shareholders from the decisions of directors, this bill imposes a duty of fairness on directors.

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce

Proposed by Rep. Cheon Jun-ho (Democratic Party of Korea)

● In light of the TMON and WeMakePrice payment delay crisis, critics have pointed out that the crisis had arisen from allowing mail-order brokers to delay payment to their partner sellers to up to 70 days. Therefore, this bill shortens the regulatory payment settlement period for mail-order brokers to seven days from the date of purchase or ten days from the date of delivery completion. It also requires interest to be paid on any delayed payment.

Pending Bill: Partial Amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection

Proposed by Rep. Kim Seung-su (People Power Party)

● With users finding it increasingly difficult to identify AI-generated content, this bill obligates all content generated by AI to include an indication to prevent user confusion. It also mandates ICT service providers to delete AI-generated content without the correct indication.

Promulgated Bill: Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on the Development of Enterprise Cities

Competent Authority: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

● This bill determines the matters required to establish a development plan that integrates enterprise city development plans with development project implementation plans. It stipulates public hearing procedures for the establishment of integrated plans and alleviates regulations on the minimum required area of development zones from 1 million square meters to 500,000 square meters.

Administrative Announcement: Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on National Resource Security

Competent Authority: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

● Following the enactment of the Special Act on National Resource Security, this bill stipulates specific matters related to the enforcement of this act, such as the formulation of master plans, designation of dedicated institutions, the diagnosis of national resource security, and the examination of supply chains.

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The Korea Herald republishes a weekly legislative report by local law firm DR & AJU LLC to provide the latest information on bills approved, proposed, pending and set to be promulgated. -- Ed.

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For any queries about the bills, contact cr@draju.com