Request for Access to Information
What is the “right to request access to information”?
- General financial consumers can request access (including provision of copies or listening to audio) to the following data recorded, maintained, and managed by financial product sellers or financial product advisors (hereinafter “financial product seller, etc.”) for rights remedies such as dispute resolution or litigation (Article 28(1) and (3) of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers; Article 26(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers).
※ Data Subject to Access
1. Data related to contract conclusion
2. Data on the performance of the contract
3. Advertising materials related to financial products, etc.
4. The following data on the exercise of rights by general financial consumers:
√ Data on the postponement, limitation, or refusal of access to information by general financial consumers
√ Data on the withdrawal of subscription
√ Data on the termination of illegal contracts
5. Data on the establishment and operation of internal control standards
6. Data on business delegation
Procedure for requesting access to information
Submission of access request form
- When an general financial consumer wishes to access data, they must submit an access request form to the financial product seller, etc., which includes the following details (Article 26(3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers; Article 25(2) of the
Supervisory Regulations on the Protection of Financial Consumers):
1. Purpose of access: Details of dispute resolution application or litigation
2. Scope of access: Content of the data to be accessed and its relation to the above point 1
3. Method of access
Access to data and postponement of access
- Upon receiving a request for data access, financial product seller, etc. must allow the general financial consumer to access the relevant data within 6 business days from the day of the request (former part of Article 28(4) of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers; Article 26(4) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers).
- If there is a valid reason why the data cannot be accessed within this period, they can postpone the access after notifying the general financial consumer of the reason. Once the reason is resolved, they must allow access without delay (latter part of Article 28(4) of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers).
Restriction or refusal of access
- The financial product seller, etc. can restrict or refuse access by notifying the general financial consumer of the reason if any of the following conditions apply (Article 28(5) of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers; Article 26(6) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers).
· Where access can be restricted or refused according to the law
· Where there’s a risk of harming another person’s life or body or unfairly infringing on another person’s property or other interests
· Where access could significantly infringe on the business secrets of the financial company
· Where the disclosure of personal information could unfairly infringe on the privacy or freedom of private life
· Where it’s clear that the data to be accessed is not related to the purpose of access