The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee decided to continue reviewing the class action bill as the ruling and opposition parties remained divided over its retroactive application clause. The Democratic Party of Korea plans to handle the class action bill at the committee as early as before the local elections.
On the 29th afternoon, the committee held its First Subcommittee on Legislation at the National Assembly and discussed the class action bill and other items. The class action bill, pushed by the Democratic Party, is currently facing disagreements between the parties over the "3-year retroactive application clause" and the "opt-out clause."
Kim Yong-min, a Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the subcommittee, met with reporters after the meeting and said, "We held a discussion on the class action bill, but we could not handle it today," adding, "Because retroactive application remains a sticking point, we decided to hold additional talks to seek common ground."
He added, "On the parts that the business community has various concerns about or that the People Power Party is raising issues with, we in the party and the floor leadership are of the view that we will listen fully and, where appropriate, reflect them," and said, "The committee is also, for now, keeping the discussion open."
The Democratic Party is largely rejecting the "retroactivity" issue raised by the business community and the People Power Party. It argues that the term retroactivity is not appropriate for matters where investigations or trials are ongoing. This means it could apply to incidents such as Coupang's large-scale personal data leak that occurred before the law takes effect.
Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Hyun-hee said, "Because the facts and legal relationships are still ongoing, in such cases the class action law should apply," adding, "We do not see this as retroactive." Park Kyun-taek of the same party also said, "Because a new law is being applied to a new lawsuit, the very term retroactivity does not fit the matter."
A class action is a system in which, in cases with many victims such as personal data leaks, a designated person sues as a representative and the effect of the judgment extends to all victims. Currently, class actions operate only on a limited basis in the field of securities, but the Democratic Party aims to expand them through the class action law to related fields such as telecommunications companies, credit card companies, and platform corporations.