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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Sang Jin] The Office of the President of Korea could have had a major setback because of the 'Online Platform Competition Act' being promoted by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
According to Alpha Biz coverage, the Office of the President made unofficial requests to not only the National Assembly but also several Korean conglomerates to assess the trade friction impact once the act is passed.
An official familiar with the internal affairs of the office told Alpha Biz, "President Yoon Seok-Yeol approved the push for the Online Platform Competition Act. The Office of the President didn’t perform an independent risk assessment and received updates from the FTC only”. The official added, “After facing strong opposition from the domestic start-ups, explicit concerns from American Chamber of Commerce (AmChams), and trade frictions with the US, the office realized the magnitude of the matter and performed own review to assess the potential impact of passing the act”
The office soon realized that they didn’t have enough information for the assessment of the act except for the FTC reports. In response, the office reached out to the National Assembly and several Korean conglomerates for faster information collection. Nevertheless, The FTC consistently downplayed the difficulty of getting support from other ministries and the setback from the US trade friction.
“The office of the President and the ruling party agreed that the FTC’s push for the Act would have a negative impact on the upcoming general election. The office postponed the timeline of passing the act after the election despite of FTC’ dissent” said the key personnel of the ruling party.
On February 5th, the National Assembly Research Service (NARS) expressed its concerns about the act, which lacks necessity and urgency. The NARS concluded that a rush for passing the act would result in a stigma effect and recommended keeping current regulatory measures.
Alphabiz Reporter kimsangjin(ceo@alphabiz.co.kr)
