Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee

The "Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee" (PIDMC or called "Pico" 개인정보분쟁조정위원회/個人情報紛爭調整委員會) deals with data protection-related dispute settlement under the Personal Information Protection Act.

Pico and KISA publishes each year the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Cases only in Korean.

Key words
Pico, KISA, dispute mediation committee, complaint, settlement

Organization of PIDMC
PIDMC was established by the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Data Protection, etc. (정보통신망 이용촉진 및 정보보호등에 관한 법률) in December 2001 to facilitate a prompt, convenient and appropriate settlement of disputes arising from personal data.

After the enforcement of the Personal Information Protection Act (PIP Act) as from September 30, 2011, the PIDMC has been newly organized by the new Act and keep the public sector as well as the private sector under its jurisdiction. Article 40 (Establishment and Composition of Committee) of the PIP Act
 * (1) The Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Dispute Mediation Committee") shall be established to mediate any dispute over personal information.
 * (2) The Dispute Mediation Committee shall consist of not more than 20 members, including one Chairman, and one of the Committee members shall be standing.
 * (3) The Committee members shall be appointed or commissioned by the Minister of Public Administration and Security from among the persons stated in any of the following Subparagraphs:
 * 1. Public officials who belong to the College of High-ranking Government Officials of the central administrative departments or agencies in charge of data protection, or persons who presently work or have worked at equivalent positions in the public sector and related organizations, and have job experiences in data protection;
 * 2. Persons who presently serve or have served as associate professors or higher positions in universities or in publicly recognized research institutes;
 * 3. Persons who presently serve or have served as judges, public prosecutors, or attorneys-at-law;
 * 4. Persons recommended by data protection-related civic organizations or consumer groups; or
 * 5. Persons who presently work or have worked as senior officers for the trade associations composed of personal information processors.
 * (4) The Chairman shall be appointed by the Minister of Public Administration and Security from among the Committee members except public officials.
 * (5) The term of office for the Chairman and Committee members shall be two years, and their term of office may be only once extended; provided, however, that public official Committee member appointed under Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph (3) shall remain in the Committee while he/she holds the public official title.
 * (6) In order to conduct efficiently the dispute settlement, the Dispute Mediation Committee may, if necessary, establish a petit panel which is composed of five or less Committee members in each sector of mediation cases as stated by the Presidential Decree. In this case, the resolution of the petit panel delegated by the Dispute Mediation Committee shall be construed as that of the Dispute Mediation Committee.
 * (7) The Dispute Mediation Committee or a petit panel shall be open with more than half of its members present, and its resolution shall be made by the affirmative votes of the majority of present members.
 * (8) The Minister of Public Administration and Security may designate a specialized institution so as to support the Dispute Mediation Committee with the operation of its secretariat as provided by the Presidential Decree.
 * (9) The matters necessary to operate the Dispute Mediation Committee except those stated by this Act shall be provided by the Presidential Decree.

The Committee is composed of up to 20 members, appointed or commissioned by the Minister of Public Administration and Security from the high-ranking public officials, scholars, well-qualified lawyers, representatives from consumer organizations and IT businesses, whose term, integrity and professionalism are guaranteed by the Personal Information Protection Act.

The PIDMC Secretariat is set up within the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA).

Personal Information Dispute Settlement Procedure
If affected by a data breach, any data subject may make a complaint at his/her option, by visiting:
 * the Korea Consumer Agency or a civic organization,
 * the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee (Pico), or
 * the court.

Though a data subject is entitled to the judiciary judgment, filing a lawsuit usually takes place when the number of victims and the amount of damages exceeds the ordinary level. Otherwise, the personal information dispute mediation will do.

Proceedings of PIDMC
Actually, the dispute mediation proceedings shall be initiated by either a data subject with complaints or the personal information processor, and settled free of charge. When a petition for mediation is filed with the PIDCommittee, the Committee commences factual investigation in an informal way and advises a settlement voluntarily agreed upon by the parties prior to the formal mediation.

If both parties fail to agree upon a settlement, the Committee starts the mediation proceedings. After fact finding efforts through hearings, discoveries and expert's examinations, the Committee suggests a mediation proposal for an agreement by the parties within 60 days from the filing of petition.

If and when both parties say "yes" to the settlement agreement within 15 days from the proposal, and execute the mediation effect record, the mediation is effected. Otherwise, each party may file a civil lawsuit with the competent court, and the Committee may assist the data subject to conduct the court proceedings. The parties may go directly to the court without filing a petition for mediation with the Committee.

In order to conduct efficiently the dispute settlement, the PIDMC has established a petit panel which is composed of five or less PIDMC members in each sector of mediation cases as stated by the Presidential Decree.

In this case, the resolution of the petit panel delegated by the PIDMC shall be construed as that of the PIDMC.

The proceedings of the PIDMC are illustrated as below.



PIDMC Cases
Each year the PIDMC publishes the Personal Information Dispute Mediation Cases.

Some noteworth PIDMC cases are explained here.