The National Assembly Research Service (NARS) held a joint seminar under the theme of “Legal Challenges for Creating a Fair Distribution Environment for Cultural Industries” with several Members of the National Assembly: Jae-soo Jeon (Chairperson of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee), Kang Yu-jung (Democratic Party of Korea, Member of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee), Seung-su Kim (People Power Party), Junhyun Kang (Democratic Party of Korea, Ranking Member of National Policy Committee) and Hun-seung Lee (People Power Party). The seminar was held in Seminar Room 2 of the National Assembly Members’ Office Building.

Recently, Korea’s cultural industry including films, music, dramas, games, and webtoons has been gaining global recognition, making significant contributions to the economy. In order for the cultural industry to continue to grow and maintain global competitiveness, it is important to foster an ecosystem of win-win cooperation, as well as establish a reasonable environment for content creation and production

This seminar was organized to review and analyze various perspectives about the “Legislative Bill on Creating a Fair Distribution Environment for Cultural Industries” (hereby referred to as the "Bill"), which was initially introduced but discarded in the 21st National Assembly. During the seminar, there was a briefing on “The Current Status of Unfair Trade Practices in the Cultural Industry and Discussions in the 22nd National Assembly,” and presentations on two topics: “Legal Issues of the Bill on Fair Distribution Environment for Cultural Industries” and “Review and Improvement Measures for Bills Related to Fair Distribution Environment for Cultural Industries.”

Attorney Yoo-kyung Beom from the Duksu Law Firm spoke about the legal issues of the Bill on Fair Distribution for Cultural Industries. She stated that the Bill introduced in the 21st National Assembly (Committee proposal) is significant in that it provides a broad regulatory framework for unfair practices in areas that have long been vacant due to legislative gaps, and it especially strengthens protection for cultural product creators (including artists). She also discussed different legal effects between the Bill and Act on the Guarantee of Status and Rights of Artists by examining how the Bill will be applied in practice, adding that the Bill should be supplemented with provisions regarding the right to report and reporting procedures.

Professor Kyu-ho Lee (Chung-Ang University Law School), who delivered the second presentation, titled “Review and Improvement Measures for Bills Related to Fair Distribution for Cultural Industries,” raised concerns that while regulatory legislation should set the scope of application more strictly, this Bill, which has the nature of regulatory legislation, borrows the scope of application of the “Framework Act on the Promotion of Cultural Industries,” which is a promotion law, and thus the scope of application is too broad, which in turn could lead to excessive regulation of private contracts. In particular, he argued that provisions such as enforcement fines, treble damages, and criminal penalties should be formed considering the relationship with other laws, such as Act on the Promotion of Mutually Beneficial Cooperation between Large Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises and the Copyright Act, and align with international agreements.

Afterwards, a comprehensive discussion was held with experts from the industry and legal fields including the Korean Film Producers Association and the Korea Cartoonists Association, as well as with officers from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, and the Korea Communications Commission. Notably, this seminar was attended by many stakeholders from various areas of the cultural industry as well as academia. The fact that all related ministries participated once again confirmed the high level of interest in the Bill. It is hoped that the various issues raised during the seminar will contribute to the development of a more reasonable ecosystem of cultural industries in the future.