On February 16, 2021, Legislator Byeong-Wook Kim introduced to the National Assembly a bill to partially amend the Personal Information Protection Act (the "Amendment Bill").  Please see below for the key details of the Amendment Bill. 

The Amendment Bill contains some overlaps and similarities with the Proposed Partial Amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act (the "PIPA") announced by the Personal Information Protection Commission (the "Commission") on January 6, 2021 (the “Government Proposal”).  However, the Amendment Bill contains matters which are not in the Government Proposal, such as (i) consolidating the provisions on collection and use of personal information and providing personal information to third parties, (ii) imposing a duty to notify data subjects in advance if sensitive information is disclosed in the course of providing services, and (iii) clarifying that providing pseudonymized information to third parties outside of Korea will be subject to special provisions on overseas transfer. 

Given that the Government Proposal and the Amendment Bill intend to amend some of the major provisions of the PIPA, for instance by consolidating regulations, strengthening data subjects’ rights, and reforming sanctions, companies should pay close attention to how the legislative process develops. 

Please refer to the attachment for details regarding the key revisions in the Amendment Bill.  Also, please refer to the related newsletter for the main details of the Government Proposal. 

[Attachment] Main Points of the Amendment Bill

[Korean version]
[Related newsletter] Proposed Partial Amendment to the PIPA