Businesses that send illegal spam or fail to comply with spam prevention obligations will face fines of up to 6% of their related revenue, depending on the severity of the violation.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) announced on July 29 that it has prepared a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the 'Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection' and a draft of the guidelines for imposing penalties for violations related to the transmission of advertising information.
This amendment follows the revision of the Information and Communications Network Act in March. It categorizes violations related to illegal spam into three levels of severity: 'very serious,' 'serious,' and 'normal,' and imposes fines ranging from 1% to 6% of the related revenue based on the level of violation.
The fines will be calculated considering factors such as intent, negligence, the degree and type of violation, and the scale of damage. In cases where it is difficult to determine the related revenue, a fixed penalty ranging from 100 million to 2 billion won may be imposed.
The obligations of information and communications service providers to prevent illegal spam will also be strengthened. If a service is misused for sending illegal spam, providers must immediately stop the transmission of advertising information, restrict service use, and take necessary actions such as terminating contracts with the sender.
Additionally, businesses that outsource the transmission of advertising information for profit without obtaining 'transmitter qualification certification' from bulk SMS providers will face fines of up to 30 million won, depending on the number of violations.
The amendment to the enforcement decree and guidelines is expected to be announced and implemented in October after going through legislative notice, review by the Ministry of Government Legislation, and approval by the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the KCC held a meeting on the same day and accepted the Seoul Administrative Court's recommendation for mediation, canceling the appointment of Kim Seong-gun as a provisional director of the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, which was made by the former Korea Communications Commission in August 2023. The KCC explained that with the confirmation of the cancellation of Director Kwon Tae-seon's dismissal, it found no benefit in maintaining the appointment of Kim Seong-gun as a provisional director based on that premise.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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