Korea Fair Trade Commission tightens AI advertising substantiation rules

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has amended its operating notice on the substantiation of labeling and advertising content, explicitly imposing a substantiation obligation on advertising that uses AI and other new technologies and cutting the extension period for submitting evidence from 30 to 15 days. The revision, published as Fair Trade Commission Notice No. 2026-15 in the Republic of Korea Official Gazette (Gwanbo) No. 21314 of 3 September 2026, took effect the same day.

The notice is issued under Article 11 of the Fair Labeling and Advertising Act and Article 23 of its enforcement decree, and it sets out the procedures and review standards for the substantiation materials that advertisers must produce when the commission requests proof of their claims. The amendment renames the instrument the “Operating Notice on the Substantiation of Labeling and Advertising Content” and systematically overhauls the relevant procedures and criteria, with the stated aim of securing objectivity and consistency in enforcement and raising predictability for regulated businesses.

AI and new technologies brought under substantiation

The core change is the explicit addition of AI and other new technologies to the main targets for substantiation-material requests. Under the revised text, advertisers using AI-related claims in labeling or advertising are now expressly subject to the obligation to substantiate their content, and the examples in the notice have been updated to reflect recent adjudication cases. This closes a gap in which claims generated or supported by artificial-intelligence systems could fall outside the established substantiation framework.

Shorter deadlines and clearer procedures

The amendment also tightens the timeline for compliance. The grounds for extending the deadline to submit substantiation materials are now enumerated in detail, and once the extension reason ceases, the submission deadline is shortened from the previous 30 days to 15 days. In addition, if a business operator fails to submit the materials within the deadline without a valid reason and continues the labeling or advertising, the commission may order the suspension of that labeling or advertising until the materials are submitted.

Review standards and new checklist

The revision consolidates the review criteria for substantiation materials into general review requirements covering the type of material and its relevance to the labeling or advertising content. Foreign-produced substantiation materials must now be submitted together with a Korean-language summary. A new business-operator checklist has also been introduced, and the per-material assessment standards have been updated to reflect current practice.

For advertisers and businesses across sectors, the amendment raises the compliance bar for AI-driven marketing while shortening the window to respond to commission requests, increasing both regulatory burden and legal certainty. Companies relying on AI-generated or AI-related claims should review their substantiation files and internal procedures now that the new rules are in force.

Source: Republic of Korea Official Gazette (Gwanbo), No. 21314, 3 September 2026, Section I (official reference: Fair Trade Commission Notice No. 2026-15).