메타버스 시대의 도래와 소비자법의 입법과제 - 전자상거래법의 적용과 개정방향을 중심으로 -

Meta-verse is an area where humans operate in virtual space, and transactions are also taking place in it. Currently, transactions within the meta-verse for goods are not activated contrary to expectations, and transactions on digital content account for a large number. In transactions within these meta-verse, consumer protection should be made the same as transactions in cyber malls, and its representative corporate e-commerce law should be applied. However, in order for the e-commerce law to be applied to transactions within the meta-verse, the transaction must correspond to e-commerce or mail-order sales. Of course, the majority of transactions made within the meta-verse correspond to e-commerce or mail-order sales under the E-Commerce Act. But some transactions do not correspond to e-commerce or mail-order sales. Since this stems from the limitations or problems of the definition regulations under the E-Commerce Act, it is necessary to amend the definition regulations. In this paper, I examined whether transactions within the met-averse correspond to e-commerce and mail-order sales under the E-Commerce Act, and presented the problems or limitations of the definition of e-commerce and mail-order sales. As a result, despite the fact that it is a non-face-to-face transaction, the e-commerce law is not applied, resulting in blind spots in consumer protection. This is a problem caused by the general definition of the transaction method to be applied, and this problem cannot be solved through interpretation because the e-commerce law is a special law and regulatory administration law for consumer contracts. Therefore, this problem must be solved through the revision of the definition regulations under the E-Commerce Act, and basically, it is necessary to redefine the relationship between e-commerce and mail order sales. In other words, the generic term for non-face-to-face transactions is mail-order sales, and e-commerce is a type of mail-order sales. However, it is inappropriate to stipulate that some of the e-commerce does not fall under mail order, so all e-commerce should be included in mail order. Based on this point, the definition of e-commerce and mail-order sales should be revised as follows. First, in the definition of e-commerce, non-face-to-face transactions should be specified, and should be amended to the actions of business operators, not commercial activities. Second, the definition of mail-order sales should be amended to determine whether or not it is a non-face-to-face transaction, rather than deleting the pre-provision of information on sales, and modifying the object of benefits into goods, services, or rights.