Personal Information Protection Act, comprehensive regime and lawful bases

Act No. 10465 (Mar. 29, 2011), as amended by Act No. 19234 (Mar. 14, 2023), Art. 15

A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.

What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.

In force since 15 September 2023.

A comprehensive regime rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 23 August 2026.

What it requires

An app that collects, uses, or discloses the personal data of individuals in South Korea must establish one of PIPA's lawful processing grounds, most commonly consent or a documented legitimate interest justification, before processing, and must confine use to the stated purpose of collection.

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

PIPA is Korea's single omnibus personal-data statute, reaching public institutions and private businesses alike. Art. 15 sets several lawful bases for collecting and using personal information, most commonly consent or the controller's justifiable interest where it is manifestly superior to the data subject's rights, and confines processing to the stated purpose of collection.

There is no separate controller and processor split as sharp as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)'s; PIPA instead regulates the broadly defined personal information controller.

When LexLint raises it

crawls_web
trains_models
generates_content
deploys_chatbot
automated_outreach
high_risk_decisions
processes_voice
processes_biometrics

Read the law

official statute text, Korea Legislation Research Institute (KLRI) English translation

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

Back to the example · Lint your app