Korea AgentDirect Check Your Requirements

Electronic Commerce Consumer Protection Act

E-commerce Domestic Representative in South Korea

From 21 January 2027, qualifying foreign mail-order sellers and mail-order intermediaries without a Korean address or place of business must designate a domestic representative in writing. The finalized Enforcement Decree sets alternative revenue, Korean consumer-access and KFTC enforcement-trigger thresholds.

Upcoming requirement Effective 21 January 2027 Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)
Check Your Requirements Review the scope

Enacted requirement — preparation period

Article 20-5 of the Act and Article 25-4 of the Enforcement Decree have been enacted. The domestic-representative obligation applies from 21 January 2027. Foreign businesses that may meet a threshold should assess their status and prepare the appointment, KFTC submission, public disclosure and operating procedures before that date.

Who may be affected?

Qualifying foreign sellers and marketplaces without a Korean address or place of business

The requirement is not imposed on every overseas online business. The company must first be a mail-order seller or mail-order intermediary under Korean law, have no address or place of business in Korea, and satisfy at least one alternative threshold.

Common business profiles

  • Overseas online retailers selling goods or services directly to Korean consumers
  • Cross-border marketplaces that intermediate sales between sellers and Korean consumers
  • Foreign digital-content, subscription or service providers that qualify as mail-order sellers
  • International shopping, direct-purchase and marketplace platforms operating a cybermall accessible to Korean consumers

Are you a mail-order seller or a mail-order intermediary?

These are statutory classifications under the Korean E-commerce Consumer Protection Act. They are not determined solely by whether a business describes itself as an online retailer, marketplace or platform.

  • Mail-order seller: Generally, a business that presents goods or services through a website, application or other remote communication channel, accepts a Korean consumer’s order remotely, and sells the goods or services to that consumer. This commonly includes foreign brands, online retailers, subscription-service providers and digital-service businesses selling directly to Korean consumers.
  • Mail-order intermediary: Generally, a business that provides an online marketplace, application or other system through which third-party sellers and consumers enter into transactions, or otherwise arranges those transactions. This commonly includes marketplaces and platforms connecting Korean consumers with independent sellers.

Some businesses may perform both roles

A platform may act as a mail-order intermediary for third-party sellers while also acting as a mail-order seller for products or services it sells directly. The classification should therefore be reviewed by transaction model rather than by the company’s general business description.

Preliminary applicability checklist

  • The business sells goods or services remotely to Korean consumers, facilitates transactions between Korean consumers and third-party sellers, or performs both roles, and therefore falls within the Act’s definition of a mail-order seller or mail-order intermediary.
  • Its total revenue in the previous year, or preceding business year for a corporation, was at least KRW 1 trillion.
  • Alternatively, during the three months immediately preceding the end of the previous year, the monthly average number of Korean consumers accessing a cybermall operated by the business was at least one million.
  • Alternatively, the business has received a KFTC order to submit a report, materials or items after a violation caused, or created a risk of, significant consumer harm.

A Korean affiliate may have to be appointed

The representative must have an address or place of business in Korea. If the foreign business has a Korean corporation that it established, or a Korean corporation over which it exercises dominant influence regarding matters such as officer composition or business operation, the representative must be selected from among those Korean corporations. A third-party representative is appropriate only when this mandatory-affiliate rule does not apply.

Objective scope matrix

Separate the representative role from retained responsibility

The precise included scope is confirmed in the signed engagement. Optional support is not included unless separately agreed.

01 · Statutory functions

Functions assigned by the law

  • For a mail-order seller: perform the transaction terms concerning consumer-damage compensation, complaint handling and disputes that fall within Article 13(5) and Article 13(2)(8).
  • For a mail-order intermediary: take the necessary measures under Article 20(3) to identify and resolve consumer complaints or disputes arising from use of its cybermall or intermediary service.
  • For either category: comply with a covered KFTC order requiring submission of reports, materials or items.
  • Maintain an effective means of communication with the appointing foreign business. A violation by the representative within the assigned statutory functions is treated as an act of the appointing business.

02 · Proposed Korea Agent Direct scope

Coordination framework

  • Act as the formally appointed Korean domestic representative after eligibility and the mandatory-affiliate rule are confirmed.
  • Maintain the approved Korean address, telephone number, email address and effective communication channel with the foreign business.
  • Coordinate the complaint, dispute or transaction-condition functions that apply to the client's classification as seller or intermediary.
  • Coordinate client-approved responses to covered KFTC report and document-submission orders.
  • Track deadlines, escalate substantive decisions and maintain communication and submission records.

03 · Optional support

Separate approved scope

  • Applicability and readiness coordination based on revenue, Korean consumer-access and corporate-relationship information.
  • Coordination with independent Korean consumer-law counsel for legal interpretation or dispute strategy.
  • Additional bilingual administrative support for a defined KFTC matter or consumer-response project.

04 · Foreign company

Client-retained responsibilities

  • Determine and document whether it acts as a mail-order seller, mail-order intermediary or both.
  • Remain the relevant seller, intermediary, contractual party, marketplace operator, importer or payment recipient as applicable.
  • Make refund, cancellation, settlement, liability, admission and commercial-remedy decisions.
  • Maintain fulfillment, product-safety, transaction-disclosure and all other underlying consumer-law compliance.
  • Provide complete and accurate records, approve submissions and maintain responsibilities not expressly assigned by Article 20-5.

Appointment and operation

A controlled activation process

The Act requires a written appointment. Representative information must be submitted to the KFTC and then publicly disclosed. The operating process must also preserve effective communication between the representative and the foreign business.

Typical process

  1. Classify the Korean-facing business model as mail-order selling, mail-order intermediation or both.
  2. Test the three alternative triggers using prior-year revenue, Korean cybermall-access data and any relevant KFTC order.
  3. Review Korean corporate relationships to determine whether a Korean affiliate must be appointed.
  4. Define the applicable seller or intermediary functions, execute the written appointment and submit the representative information to the KFTC.
  5. Publish the required representative information on the first screen of the cybermall without delay and activate communication, escalation and record-management procedures.

Information normally requested after initial contact

  • Certificate of incorporation and registry extract
  • Description of the sales, subscription, platform or intermediary model and the parties to each Korean transaction
  • Korean-facing stores, marketplaces and applications
  • Prior-year total revenue and supporting financial information
  • Monthly Korean consumer-access data for the relevant three-month measurement period
  • Korean consumer terms, complaint, cancellation, return, refund and dispute procedures
  • Information on Korean corporations established or controlled by the foreign business
  • Relevant KFTC correspondence and customer-operations, compliance and legal escalation contacts

No document upload at inquiry stage

Do not send corporate records, credentials, identity documents, authority evidence or personal information through the public form. A separately approved secure exchange method is arranged after initial contact.

Applicable law and sources

Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, etc.

Provisions: Act Article 20-5; Enforcement Decree Article 25-4 and related provisions

Authority: Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Regulatory information last verified: 2026-07-22 Primary Korean source text controls.

Frequently asked questions

Practical scope questions

Is the e-commerce representative requirement already in force?

No. Article 20-5 and Enforcement Decree Article 25-4 have been enacted, but the domestic-representative obligation applies from 21 January 2027. Companies that may meet a threshold can assess and prepare before the effective date.

Does Korea Agent Direct become the seller or merchant of record?

No. A domestic-representative appointment does not itself make Korea Agent Direct the seller, merchant of record, importer, marketplace operator or payment recipient.

Must all three thresholds be met?

No. The thresholds are alternatives. A qualifying foreign seller or intermediary is covered if it meets the revenue threshold, the Korean consumer-access threshold, or the KFTC enforcement-trigger threshold.

Can a third-party representative be appointed when the company has a Korean affiliate?

Not necessarily. If the foreign business has a Korean corporation that it established or over which it exercises dominant influence regarding matters such as officer composition or business operation, Article 20-5 requires the representative to be selected from among those Korean corporations.

Can Korea Agent Direct approve refunds or settlements?

Not as an automatic consequence of appointment. The foreign business retains substantive commercial and liability decisions unless specific authority is separately granted in writing and is legally appropriate.

Preliminary review

Discuss E-commerce representative requirements

Share basic company information. Agent Direct will use it for a preliminary non-legal screening and to discuss an appropriate next step.

Do not send sensitive material.

Do not submit credentials, identity documents, breach details, personal-data requests, confidential evidence or files through this form.

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Additional context

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Related representative services

One company may face more than one regime