Commercial Agents and Insurance Agents under the Korean Commercial Act

This article considers the legal concepts, powers and duties of agents under the Commercial Act (Part 2) and insurance agents under the Commercial Act (Part 4), and considers to what extent common rules should be applied. In doing so, I considered economic substance, such as the substance of the trader's business, the role of the agent in the market as an assistant to the trader, and the differences arising from whether the agent deals with goods or financial instruments, especially insurance products. The Insurance Business Act defines an insurance agent, but the Commercial Act's Insurance Chapter does not define an insurance agent. It is clear that an insurance agent in the Commercial Act is a type of agent in the same Act. However, it is difficult to conclude that an insurance agent of the Commercial Act and an insurance agency of the Insurance Business Act are the same concept. Insurance agencies operating in our insurance sales market vary in size and substance, and therefore have different bargaining power in their relationship with insurance companies. The Insurance Business Act is a regulatory law, which allows for differential regulation based on the size of the agency, but the Insurance Part of the Commercial Act is a contract law, which is not suitable for differential regulation based on size. Insurance agents are a type of agent, but their role is somewhat different from the role of non-insurance agents in the commercial market. However, it is necessary to extract the common elements of insurance agents and agents and apply the agency regulations of the Commercial Act to the common parts. In this article, I considered how the provisions of agent's right to claim remuneration, right to claim compensation, and non-competition obligation would be interpreted and applied to insurance agents and insurance agencies. It is necessary to respond to various issues that arise in practice surrounding insurance agents through systematic interpretation of the current Acts. In the future, legislative amendment will also be necessary, either by establishing regulations in the insurance section of the Commercial Act or amending the Insurance Business Act. In the long term, I proposed to separate the Insurance Contract Act from the Commercial Act and merge it with the Insurance Business Act, and then have detailed regulations such as the German Insurance Contract Act(VVG). In that case, it will be necessary to make elaborate regulations by aligning the agency regulations in the Commercial Act.