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| National Policy Committee of the National Assembly Passes Proposed Amendment to the PIPA on Domestic Agent Designation Requirement |
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| On February 24, 2025, the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee approved a proposed amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act (the “PIPA”) aimed at strengthening the requirements for foreign businesses to designate a domestic agent. |
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| The domestic agent designation requirement under the PIPA was introduced to enable foreign businesses to effectively handle grievances related to personal information and to communicate with the privacy regulators. Under the current framework, the only qualification for a domestic agent is having a registered address or place of business in Korea, with no restrictions concerning its form or operations. |
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| However, concerns have been raised that the designation of domestic agents by foreign businesses has become largely procedural. To address these issues, the proposed amendment introduces two key changes: |
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(i) Data controllers will be required to actively oversee and manage their designated domestic agents; and
(ii) If a data controller required to designate a domestic agent has a subsidiary in Korea or controls a Korean entity (meaning it influences the executive composition, business operations, or other significant factors), such entity must be appointed as the domestic agent. |
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| Since the proposed amendment bill was approved by the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly, it will now go to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee for linguistic and structural review. Following the approval by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the bill will then be submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly for final voting. If enacted, this amendment will require foreign businesses with subsidiaries in Korea to change their domestic agent from a third party service provider to their subsidiaries and establish appropriate supervision measures. Given these potential changes, foreign businesses are advised to closely monitor the progress of this amendment. |
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