[Platform Column] Discount coupon for registration, can be sent without problems to members?

In today’s era, where consumption through internet shopping malls is taking the lead, members are constantly receiving notifications to provide benefits, such as membership registration commemorative coupons, birthday commemorative coupons, and discount benefits. However, these notifications should not be sent without a member’s explicit prior consent if they do not fall under special exceptions.

Shopping malls are fundamentally businesses engaged in profitable activities, and coupons, mileage, etc., related to products and services provided by businesses may include promotional purposes to encourage the use of those products and services. Therefore, these coupons and mileage are, in principle, advertising information. However, the “Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Networks 이용 및 Information Protection” (hereinafter referred to as the “Information and Communications Network Act”) stipulates that anyone sending commercial advertising information using electronic transmission media must obtain the explicit prior consent of the recipient, thus fundamentally restricting the transmission of commercial advertising information. Free newsletters, even if they are helpful events for members, are likely to be an exception.

플래텀_법무법인비트 ‘스타트업이라면 궁금할 法한 이야기’ 칼럼 시리즈 중 일부



Park So-hee, a lawyer at Law Firm Veat, who has provided various legal consultations related to personal information and the Information and Communications Network Act, has published a column on Platum, a startup-specific media, regarding legal issues that many companies overlook.

For more detailed information, please refer to here.