동아시아에 있어서 소비자보호-한,중,일 국제학술세미나 : 제1부 ; 논문 : 계약자유와 소비자보호

Abstract

The freedom of contract is the main principle of civil law in Korea as

well. But various exceptions have been made not only by the interpretation of

general clauses in current civil law, but also by the legislations of special

contract laws for consumer protection: such as Installment Transactions Act,

Regulation of Standardized Contracts Act, Door to Door Sale, etc. Act, and so

on. These special laws adopted not only the limitation of freedom of contract,

but also the administrative regulations of activities of sellers in various ways.

The main methods to protect consumer in special laws are divided in two

ways. One is to restrict the freedom of contract on seller's side and the other

is to provide buyer more informations about the contract. Although most

developed countries prefer the latter in this century, Korea still insists the

former way. As a result, the regulations for consumer protection are also

confronted by the stream of deregulation.

Therefore the author has strongly criticised the methods of consumer

protection in current laws and recommend to adopt the latter and to replace

gradually the former by the latter. And then the consumer protection laws can

be more easily incorporated in civil law system.