집단적 소비자피해구제제도의 개선 방안- 소비자단체소송을 중심으로 -

Korea has a variety of systems for consumer relief by enacting a consumer protection law in 1980, establishing the Korea Consumer Agency in 1987 and supporting consumer organizations to tackle consumer problems. However, there was a need to improve the legal system to address consumer problems, and on September 27, 2006, the Framework Act on Consumers was amended to introduce consumer group lawsuits. The consumer group lawsuit was expected to contribute significantly to consumer protection when it was introduced in 2006, but has not been activated, with only a total of seven lawsuits filed in the decade or so after its implementation. If the reason why consumer group lawsuits have not been activated is because of enhanced consumer protection of operators, the purpose of the system could be said to have been realized. The reality, however, is not so. In other words, the consumer group litigation system has not been activated due to its own limitations. Various discussions have been held to address collective consumer harm, including the improvement of the collective lawsuit system and the introduction of U.S.-style class action suits. As I think, considering that it is practically impossible to finalize the scope of the affected consumers in the non-financial sector, I think it would be more efficient to remedy consumer damages in the general sector than to improve the current consumer group litigation, as seen in this article, rather than class action suits.