FTC revealed on May 26 that it is preparing a certification system that would guarantee trust in the commercial trade through e-commerce consumer protection law it recently filed a motion for legislation citing a steep rise in EC damage in the Internet shopping malls. FTC said that the certification will be granted only when such prerequisites as trustworthiness of shopping malls, privacy protection and system stability are met in terms of consumer protection nurturing it as a major certification system in EC.

FTC is currently mulling over whether the government should get the control over the system or it should be commissioned to an association or an organization. A source said, "While certificate marks went after by other bodies are led by the private sector under the sponsorship of the government, it is noteworthy in that FTC has the government grant a certificate mark directly," explaining a difference with other systems.

Since MCIE and MIC are already operating systems under the similar cause, however, policy confusion as well as a business redundancy seem to be inevitable. In particular, since the newest entrant comes out at a time when existing certification systems are not efficiently utilized, critics say that the system is only a demonstrative administration to take the lead in the field other than to protect consumers.

In fact, five years have passed since MCIE introduced 'eTrust System' in 1999 for the consumer protection and the stability in transaction, but there are only 73 member companies as of now. Sponsored by MIC and conducted by Korea Association of Information & Telecommunication, 'I-Safe' system is reduced to a nominal one with member companies of a paltry 21. 'ePrivacy' system led by MCIE and MIC for privacy handlers at shopping mall sites since the first half of last year is relatively performing well among other systems with 85 members companies. However, this figure pales in comparison with total 5,000 shopping mall sites. These certification systems pay 300,000 ~ 1 million won for the usage of the certification systems except screening fees.

A source of a shopping mall company said, "Only few consumers trust shopping malls by relying on various certification marks including the observance of standard policy and marks of some member companies as well as private certification systems," adding that conceiving another certification system itself is the product of a demonstrative administration completely disregarding the reality and it would only incur extra fees for the industry.