[비즈한국] Companies sometimes make decisions that are difficult to explain based on money alone. Understanding the laws or systems hidden behind those decisions reveals a deeper story. 'Useful Business Tips' introduces the clues that help clarify the flow of business.
In any organization, customer service departments are often labeled as 'unpopular.' Dealing with people requires continuous emotional expenditure and stress. Moreover, since the essence of complaint handling is to keep disputes from escalating, employees often feel they are only breaking even when things go well, and any slip-up could potentially 'stir up a hornet's nest,' leading to even greater problems.
Small business owners, including those in self-employment, the restaurant industry, and franchises, primarily engage in face-to-face business and have frequent direct contact with consumers. It is easy to see how many worries they face in the course of their operations. It is no longer strange to hear about business owners suffering from emotional labor due to stress from customer interactions, the declining influx of young people who fear such environments, or even managers taking leave due to the need for psychiatric treatment after dealing with customers.
Of course, whether the responsibility for disputes and conflicts lies with the business owner or the consumer varies from case to case. It is not fair to label someone as a malicious business owner or a malicious complainant without sufficiently verifying the facts. However, for the sake of convenience in this discussion, I ask for your understanding that this will be written from the perspective of the business owner.
With the exponentially growing influence of online platforms, influencers, and media reports, the potential for a business to suffer fatal damage if negative posts or reports are published has significantly increased. While such exposure may feel satisfying to a consumer who feels they are striking a blow against unfair practices, from the business owner’s perspective, it feels like being hit with concentrated fire nationwide overnight, leading to overwhelming chaos.
Furthermore, the popularization of smartphones means that virtually every citizen now carries desktop-level recording, photography, and documentation equipment at all times, making it very easy for consumers to secure various forms of evidence, including audio, video, and text. In the past, drafting a document that clearly articulated one's position required significant expertise and effort, but with the emergence of AI, such tasks can now be completed in just a few minutes.
In such an environment, how should business owners prevent and respond to consumer disputes? As a lawyer, I believe that proactive prevention is an area better handled by experts who know the specific fields best, so I cannot dare to offer specific advice. However, regarding the response after a dispute occurs, I can offer one important standard.
That standard is the Fair Trade Commission Notice No. 2025-14, the 'Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards,' amended on December 18, 2025. As the amendment date suggests, these standards have been revised almost every year until recently. This implies that they are used very frequently in practice and are being continuously maintained and updated to reflect the realities of trade.
The Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards are administrative rules established by the Fair Trade Commission. Although they theoretically lack legal binding power, they have effectively served as a code of conduct for resolving disputes because they have been applied as a matter of practice for a long time. The Korea Consumer Agency also describes them as "standards for agreements or recommendations to smoothly resolve disputes arising between consumers and businesses." In fact, many people have likely encountered phrases like 'In case of product defects or malfunctions, we will provide a refund according to the Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards' on product packaging.
These standards are vast, reaching approximately 138 pages in PDF format, and cover almost all industries and services that consumers encounter in daily life. For example, in the case of long-term water purifier rentals, if the service is delayed due to the business owner's fault, the fee is reduced for the duration of the delay, and if such delays repeat two or more times, the contract can be terminated without a penalty. It also mandates that product exchanges or contract termination without penalties are possible if foreign substances are found or water quality issues occur.
If a business owner is at least familiar with the parts related to their specific industry, they can not only respond reasonably to excessive consumer demands but also effectively manage disputes by proactively suggesting solutions based on the regulations.
Meanwhile, there is a point about these standards that bears further thought. In civil law countries like South Korea, which prioritize codified law, there is a strong tendency to recognize the normative power of a regulation once it is enacted and implemented, rather than scrutinizing its validity too deeply. While this characteristic has the drawback of causing rigidity in society if regulations are not amended in a timely manner to reflect changing times, it also has the advantage of increasing the predictability and stability of transactions.
The same applies to the Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards. Because they are standards officially established by a state agency, their authority and validity are recognized, and in most practical cases, they are applied as they are. However, for recently emerged sharing economies, platform-based services, and new business models, they sometimes reveal a certain rigidity. For example, a service structure that provides idle space at a very low price but imposes heavy penalties for schedule changes can inevitably lead to disputes when it conflicts with the Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards.
Designing and adjusting for these issues is by no means a simple task. However, the moment you begin to ponder such questions, 'trading' finally becomes 'business'.