소비자 권익기금 설정 및 운용 방향에 관한 탐색적 연구

초록

While one of the biggest problems in promoting consumer policies being financial vulnerability, a plan to use a portion of the fines imposed by the Fair Trade Commission(FTC) is suggested as an alternative to implement consumer-oriented policies and services. Fines imposed on the company are regarded as national taxes, and government is managing them, despite the fact that more than about 500 billion won has been imposed by the FTC over 3 years and that the actual victims of the damages related to the company's violations on the Fair Trading Acts and Consumer Protections are consumers themselves. As a result, we find it hard to judge that fines are used to prevent consumers from being damaged or to establish consumer protection actions and a fair competitive market. From these perspectives, this study has aimed the followings; to provide theoretic, legal, and systematic foundations to improve consumer protection and rights by institutionalizing fines imposed on the company by the FTC, and to provide policy measurements to help establish fair and competitive markets by using the fund for the actions to reduce consumer damages. In-depth interviews with a panel of experts were conducted in order to derive reasonable directions from systematic discussions on the establishment of consumer rights fund and its operating measures. The survey contents of this study include four important things: firstly, summarizing experts' opinions on the current consumer policies of national and local governments; secondly, discussing the roles of consumer organizations as governance partners; thirdly, investigating the tasks which should be decided beforehand for the systematic implementation of consumer policies; and finally evaluating the opinions on financial problems and their solutions for the implementation of consumer policies. The systematic utilization of funds through the establishment of the Fund Committee is mostly preferred in spite of various opinions on fund operation. In addition, consumers emphasized the necessity of reliable public consumer information and they expected to utilize the consumer rights fund in the establishment of public consumer information system. The priorities in setting up consumer rights fund are the recognition of fund necessity, justification, utilization and expected effects, for which the results of this study could be used.

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