Korea launches evaluation system for personal information handling policies, including OTT and big tech

The Korea Personal Information Protection Commission announced that it has deliberated and passed a draft evaluation plan for personal information handling policies for 2024. Until now, personal information handling policies have been difficult to understand and simply written.
It has been pointed out that because the notation and disclosure methods are fixed, such as simply listing information, there are limitations to the protection of the rights of the entities providing the information.
For this reason, in 2023, the Commission introduced a system for evaluating personal information handling policies through legal reform. The first evaluation will be carried out in 2024.
The areas of evaluation will include big tech, which is closely related to people's lives, online shopping, online platforms for home delivery and accommodation, hospitals and clinics, and over-the-top (OT) services.
The seven areas include the internet, entertainment such as games and webtoons, and artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment.
The evaluation criteria are based on the Personal Information Protection Law (Article 30, Paragraph 2), and consist of 26 items and 42 indicators.
The system evaluates the implementation of legal obligations and the efforts of personal information handling officers. If a personal information handling officer is found to be excellent as a result of the evaluation, the system will reduce surcharges and fines.
The plan is to provide incentives such as reducing the number of employees who make mistakes in order to encourage voluntary improvements, and to take measures such as issuing recommendations for improvements in areas where improvements are needed.