"Are you sending discount coupons for member registration events, birthday coupons, and discount benefits smoothly to members?"

In today’s world where online shopping is the dominant trend, notification messages are constantly sent to members to encourage them to sign up for shopping malls and receive coupons for registration, birthday coupons, and discount benefits. However, if these notifications do not fall under any special exceptions, they should not be sent without the member’s consent.

Shopping malls are businesses that operate for profit, and coupons, mileage points, and other benefits offered by businesses may include promotional purposes to encourage the use of the related products and services. Therefore, these coupons and mileage points are, in principle, advertising information. Nevertheless, the ‘Information and Communications Network Act’ (hereinafter referred to as the “Information Network Act”) stipulates that anyone who transmits advertising information for commercial purposes using an electronic transmission medium must obtain the explicit consent of the recipient, thereby fundamentally restricting the transmission of advertising information. Free newsletters, even if they are intended to help members, are likely to be an exception.

Even push messages from applications installed on smartphones, if the content falls under advertising information, can be considered commercial advertising information, requiring the recipient’s explicit consent.

Specifically, given that the explicit consent mentioned above should be obtained, the business should clearly inform the member or user that they may receive advertising information in the future upon agreeing to receive notifications, separate from the terms and conditions of use and personal information collection and use consent, through a separate checkbox. In particular, based on the ‘Guide to the Information Network Act for Preventing Illegal Spam’ published by the Broadcasting Commission and the Korea Internet Corporation, the guide indicates that advertising information consent is included in the terms and conditions, and obtaining consent through the terms and conditions includes advertising information consent, but in the most recently published 5th revised edition, the instruction on obtaining explicit advertising information consent through the service terms and conditions has been deleted, leading us to recommend obtaining explicit consent from members or users through a checkbox.

In addition to this, there are many considerations to be made when sending advertising information, such as nighttime notification consent, mandatory disclosures when sending advertising information, methods for refusing receipt, and notification of the results of processing. Despite this, many services are currently sending advertising information indiscriminately, such as installing and running apps without actually using them, or continuously offering discount events without the member’s consent.

Of course, not all information transmissions require consent. Exceptionally, if the information is necessary to be transmitted regarding the contract and transaction details agreed upon between the sender and recipient, it can be recognized as an exception to advertising information and transmitted without the recipient’s explicit consent. Furthermore, a business that collects contact information through direct transactions after a transaction has ended can also transmit advertising information related to similar goods or services. However, most benefit alerts, which do not fall under these exceptions, must be obtained through the member’s consent.

Even if the intention is to provide members with beneficial benefits, if the information is classified as advertising information, the member’s explicit consent must be obtained. If notices are provided without prior consent, despite the member’s unwillingness to receive benefit alerts, there is a risk of a fine under the Information Network Act, as well as considerable inconvenience for many members.

Therefore, before sending benefit alerts to members, it is necessary to carefully consider whether the information falls under advertising information, whether prior consent has been obtained, and whether all necessary details are included in the transmission.