The Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups announced on the 11th that it held the first meeting of the ‘Small Business Livelihood Damage Policy Response Team’ together with five central government ministries, 13 regional Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Agencies, and eight local headquarters of the Small Business Market Promotion Corporation.
The Small Business Livelihood Damage Policy Response Team is led by the Vice Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups, with Director General-level officials from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Environment, the Korea Communications Commission, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Korean National Police Agency participating as working members.
During this meeting, the team discussed the operational plan and the state of damages to small businesses related to four major issues: no-show (reservation failures), malicious reviews and comments, illegal advertising damages, and concerns about unreasonable fines on disposable products, along with each ministry's response plans.
The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to strengthen the legal binding force on dispute mediation by establishing a legal basis for the Online Advertising Dispute Mediation Committee to respond to damages caused to small businesses by illegal and unfair advertising. At the same time, it plans to prevent damages to small businesses from excessive penalties by collaborating with relevant ministries to establish ‘standard terms for advertising agency contracts’ and to publish ‘online advertising contract guidelines’ and ‘dispute mediation case studies’.
The Ministry of Environment plans to amend related guidelines to ensure that small businesses do not receive fines if customers who place takeout orders change their minds and use disposable products inside the store. Currently, the system is in operation to not impose fines if the local government head determines that there is a legitimate reason, and the Ministry plans to clarify this amendment.
The Korea Communications Commission will expand the application of ‘efforts to protect users related to the management of malicious review handling’ in services such as shopping and delivery during the 2025 user protection business evaluation to prevent damages to small businesses caused by malicious reviews and to encourage systematic protection of small businesses.
The Fair Trade Commission plans to conduct a thorough investigation into the increasing damages in the restaurant industry caused by no-show incidents and to establish improvement measures related to consumer dispute resolution standards afterward.
The Korean National Police Agency will conduct strict investigations into illegal acts against small businesses, such as obstruction of business, defamation, and fraud, caused by no-shows, malicious reviews, and illegal advertising practices.
On this day, the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups will launch the ‘Small Business Field Difficulty Report Center’ in collaboration with 13 regional Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups Agencies and 77 local centers of the Small Business Market Promotion Corporation. The center will collect various on-site difficulties related to livelihood damages of small businesses and plans to actively transfer cases requiring investigations to the security authorities.
Kim Sung-seop, Vice Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups, who chaired the meeting, noted, “In the face of difficult domestic and foreign economic conditions along with livelihood damages from no-shows and illegal advertising, small businesses have faced many managerial difficulties. We will do our best to eradicate the persistent livelihood damages of small businesses in continuous cooperation with relevant ministries.”