Companies will have to pay 1 percent of their sales in fines if their customers’ information is leaked due to a lack of technical and managerial protective measures, the Korea Communications Commission said Tuesday.

“The government penalty has been criticized as a slap on the wrist even for massive information leaks,” said Ban Sang-kwon, KCC’s personal information protection division head.

Until now, the KCC was able to impose a fine only when it proved the causal relationship between the violation of protective measures and the information leak. Thus, some large companies or organizations including Nexon, KT and EBS were able to steer clear of fines.

However, the law is to be strengthened in the future. Under a revision, the KCC will be able to levy a penalty without proving the relationship when massive information leaks occur. The current fine of less than 100 million won ($95,000) will also be revised to 1 percent of relevant sales.

For the companies whose servers are located overseas, the official said, “It is difficult to inspect them technically, but we are reviewing long-term measures to partner with international organizations or regulatory agencies in a bid to prevent reverse discrimination.”

The KCC plans to submit the revised bill to the National Assembly early next year.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)