On June 15, 2023, a bill to amend the Game Industry Promotion Act (“GIPA”), which seeks to require major overseas game service providers to designate a domestic agent to protect domestic users, was referred to the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly.

The scope of a domestic agent’s duties under the amendment bill includes tasks related to ensuring compliance with the GIPA and user protection. Key provisions of the amendment bill are as follows.
 

Under the amendment bill, overseas game service providers who meet the number of game users and revenue criteria to be further detailed in the Presidential Decree (“major overseas game service providers”) will be required to designate a domestic agent.

A domestic agent will perform the following tasks under the GIPA on behalf of the major overseas game service provider. In the case of the domestic agent’s violation or failure to fulfill its obligations under the GIPA, the game service provider that designated the domestic agent will be deemed to have committed the same violation.
 

• Submit information required for online game rating

• Perform the obligations of game service providers under the GIPA¹

• Fulfill the post-facto reporting obligation

• Comply with the obligation to not engage in the prohibited conduct listed in the GIPA, such as distribution of illegal games

• Comply with the obligation to display age and content rating

• Comply with advertising restrictions
   

When a major overseas game service provider designates a domestic agent, it will be required to include the domestic agent’s name (in the case of a corporation, the name of the corporation and its representative’s name), address (in the case of a corporation, the address of the place of business), phone number, and email address in its terms of use.

A designated domestic agent will be required to secure a valid means of contact with the designating major overseas game service provider. If a major overseas game service provider that is required to designate a domestic agent under the GIPA fails to designate a domestic agent, it will be subject to an administrative penalty of up to KRW 10 million.
 

The amendment bill (i) delegates to the Presidential Decree the establishment of standards for determining major overseas game service providers that are required to designate a domestic agent and (ii) requires consideration of the number of game users and revenue in the process of establishing such standards. Although it is too early to identify the exact criteria at this point, reference can be made to the standards stipulated under other laws that have already introduced the domestic agent requirement.

The standards for determining the scope of overseas entities required to designate a domestic agent under the Telecommunications Business Act and the Act on the Promotion of the Use of the Information Network and Information Protection (“Network Act”), which have already introduced the domestic agent requirement, are as follows.
 

The amendment bill will need to be reviewed and approved by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and the plenary session of the National Assembly. However, it is highly likely to be passed because there currently is no difference in opinion on the bill between the ruling and opposition parties.

If this amendment bill is passed, major overseas game service providers will bear additional obligations under the GIPA. Therefore, major overseas game service providers are recommended to pay close attention to further developments in the legislative status of the amendment bill.

¹   Obligation to take training on game distribution issues, obligation to prevent speculative nature of games, obligation to not service 18+ games in the case of servicing games targeting youth, etc.