South Korea's Korea Office of Media and Communications (KOMC) said on March 24 that a partial amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection cleared a cabinet meeting. The bill includes provisions to impose fines of up to 6 percent of sales and to confiscate or recover illicit gains.

The amendment would impose fines of up to 6 percent of related sales on illegal spam senders and on businesses that neglect their duties to prevent it. It also includes confiscation or recovery of illicit gains obtained from sending illegal advertising information.

Existing penalties were limited to administrative fines of up to 30 million won, and there have been criticisms that the level of punishment was low compared with profits earned by for-profit advertising information transmission businesses. KOMC will also push to normalize the bulk-text distribution market by requiring that for-profit advertising information sent through bulk text services be outsourced to parties that have obtained "transmitter qualification certification" under the Electric Telecommunications Business Act.

The amendment will take effect 6 months after its promulgation. It delegates to a presidential decree the specific cap on fines and the calculation standards. KOMC plans to prepare amendments to the enforcement decree and subordinate regulations.

KOMC Chairman Jong-cheol Kim (김종철) said, "I expect this legal amendment to contribute significantly to preventing public inconvenience and damage caused by illegal spam."