President Donald Trump recently said he would impose additional tariffs on countries that have introduced digital regulations targeting American corporations. This news has slowed the progress of the online platform fairness law, which the government and ruling party were promoting. However, discussions on the commission fee cap for delivery apps, which is part of the transaction fairness law, have resumed, raising tensions in the delivery and platform industries.
According to the political sector on the 2nd, the Democratic Party of Korea's Euljiro Committee has recently reorganized the 'social dialogue organization for delivery apps.' This organization is a consultative body led by the Democratic Party's Euljiro Committee. Since the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung government, Baemin and the National Franchise Association, as well as the Association for Fair Platforms, have been participating. Recently, Coupang Eats, rider unions, and government departments such as the Fair Trade Commission, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Ministry of SMEs and Startups have also joined.
The Euljiro Committee plans to discuss major issues surrounding delivery platforms, such as easing delivery app commission fees, guaranteeing delivery choice, capping delivery fees, and mandating the announcement of rider fares and transportation insurance. It is reported that at the first meeting held on the 29th of last month after the reorganization, they focused on ways to reduce the commission burden on participating companies and guarantee platform usage choices. A representative from the Euljiro Committee noted, 'For now, we plan to prepare a compromise within the social dialogue organization before pushing for the legislation on the delivery app commission fee cap.'
Additionally, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is also considering a revised proposal for a small business law focused on the introduction of a cap on delivery app commission fees. The bill, which is expected to be introduced by Kim Won-yi, the ruling party's secretary in the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, reportedly includes provisions to set the cap on delivery app usage fees by presidential decree and to mandate favorable usage fees for smaller participating companies.
This appears to reflect the situation where the promotion of the online platform fairness law has become uncertain following President Trump's recent separate remarks about the unfairness of digital regulations and the additional tariff policy on social networking services. Previously, on the 25th of last month (local time), Trump stated through Truth Social right after the U.S.-Korea summit, 'We will stand against countries that attack American technology corporations,' adding, 'If they do not withdraw discriminatory measures such as digital taxes, legislation, and regulations, we will impose significant additional tariffs.'
The online platform fairness law did not officially come up as an agenda item during the recent U.S.-Korea summit. However, President Trump's remarks have put the government and ruling party in a situation where they need to pause their efforts on the online platform fairness law. The law consists of the 'monopoly regulation law' aimed at preemptively regulating unfair monopolistic practices of platform corporations, and the 'transaction fairness law' designed to prevent unfair transactions among platforms, participating companies, and self-employed individuals.
The point of concern for the U.S. is that the monopoly regulation law could also affect American corporations like Google and Meta. The cap on delivery app commission fees is likely to be included in the transaction fairness law.
Although the legislative momentum for the online platform fairness law has stalled, the industry is feeling the tension as one of President Lee Jae-myung's campaign pledges was to implement a cap on delivery app commission fees.
An industry representative stated, 'Just because the legislative momentum for the online platform fairness law has dissipated in light of U.S. backlash, it doesn't mean the movement to legalize the cap on delivery app commission fees has disappeared,' adding, 'If the government and ruling party truly intended to abandon it, discussions on related matters would not have continued to emerge from the Democratic Party's Euljiro Committee or the political sector.'
Political commentator Park Sang-byeong said, 'One of the government's national objectives is the achievement of policy and institutional outcomes related to people's livelihoods. In particular, President Lee raised policies supporting small businesses and the self-employed as key campaign pledges during the elections,' noting the political burden to ensure that related policy outcomes are visible and encouraging, and asserting that they will establish related systems in some form.