소비자보호를 위한 상조업의 효율적 규제에 관한 연구

Abstract

The mortuary business is based on prepayment installment transactions;a consumer receives service after he or she gains membership and pays in advance the items they choose. Making use of this kind of service,consumers can arrange a funeral, which usually costs them a fortune;therefore, the mortuary business has been seeing rapid growth. While the mortuary market is increasing, the consumers' damage is also increasing: the use of any deceptive or exaggerated advertisements,overcharge on cancellation, and refusal of contract cancellation. To protect consumers from being damaged, the installment transaction act was revised to create prepayment installment transaction regulation in Sep 18, 2010, so it has been possible to regulate the business since then:this change includes that by stipulating the registration requirements strictly, it prevents weak businesses from entering the industry and by making it sure to arrange preneed guaranty funds, it enables consumers to get back part of their payment when they can't receive their service due to the fault of service providers. In addition, the revised act determines the content of information which must be offered when signing a contract,calls providers attention to prohibited actions, and makes it possible for consumers to made a rational decision. The United States emphasize offering enough and proper information to consumers, disclosing price to prevent deceptive or unfair acts, providing specifications, and presenting regulation provisions on funeral guide and consumers' information demand right, so that the nation can concentrate on making it easy for consumers to acquire information when arranging funeral procedures. It is a distinctive feature that this easy approach to information helps consumers choose proper funeral items for themselves. The characteristic of prepayment installment transaction in Japan is to prevent consumers' damage by preventing abundance of weak companies in advance through the license system and operation guarantee deposit system which make it hard to establish a mortuary company. The way of regulation in Korea is closer to that of Japan. In the long term, Korea must put an emphasis on offering information to consumers and expand compensation coverage for consumers' damage as in the case of America.