개인정보의 유출에 의한 집단적 피해의 구제349

A Relief for Collective Damages Arising from Leakage of Personal Information

Personal privacy shall be protected from leakage of individual information by personal information manager such as corporate body. If a subject of information suffers loss as a personal information manager has performed leakage, he/she may claim for loss to the personal information manager. In such cases, the personal information manager cannot be exempted from responsibility unless he/she proves that he/she has performed such act neither intentionally nor by negligence. In connection with cases in which many subjects of information suffer the same types of loss or infringement of their rights, a subject of information may request or apply for mediation of a dispute collectively to the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee. Some organizations may institute an action requesting for the prohibiting or suspension of an infringement on rights in a court it a personal information manager rejects the mediation of a collective dispute or not accept the mediation results of the collective dispute. In cases where the rights or liabilities forming the object of a lawsuit are common to many subjects of information, or are generated by the same factual or legal causes, these many subjects of information may join in the lawsuit as co-litigants. Many subjects of information having a common interest may appoint from among them one or more persons to act as a party or parties for entire subjects. But there are limitations which the protection from leakage of personal information may not be sufficient by the systems in Civil Act, Civil Procedure Act and Personal Information Protection Act. In order to efficiently seek a relief for collective damages arising from leaking personal information, we needs personal information leakage related class action lawsuits. In Japan, there are brought in a bill to seek a relief for collective injuries caused in consumer transaction. This new collective action means a lawsuit for confirmation of whether or not a corporate body is liable to make compensation for damages arising from transaction, and a lawsuit to seek compensation brought by a corporate body when any loss arises to numerous persons in consumer transaction. In Korea, the new system for its relief shall be discussed within a field of class action.