South Korea plans e-commerce data limits and increases repeat platform violation penalties up to 100%

The Korea Fair Trade Commission, South Korea's antitrust regulator, is planning amendments to the E-Commerce Act to limit data collection and require local agents for foreign platforms. The proposed changes restrict secondhand trade platforms to verifying only phone numbers and email addresses for personal sellers. The regulator drafted the new privacy limits following a large-scale data breach at Coupang. The updated rules also mandate that overseas marketplaces appoint a local agent if they exceed specific revenue thresholds and increase penalty surcharges by up to 100 percent for businesses with four or more violations.