Chanel Korea fined for excessive data collection

A Chanel boutique in Seoul [YONHAP]

Chanel Korea has been fined for unfairly collecting personal information including birth dates, residence locations and contact numbers from customers who were in line to get inside an offline Chanel store.

The Personal Information Protection Commission has decided to impose a fine of 3.6 million won ($2,770) on the Korean unit of the French luxury fashion house for breaking the Personal Information Protection Act, the organization said on Thursday.

It was reported in June that a Chanel boutique in a Seoul department store had asked waiting customers and their companions to provide their names, contact numbers, birthdays and residence locations.

Onlookers felt that the store had crossed a line by asking customers for overly personal information.

Chanel Korea claimed that it had collected the details to prevent proxy purchasing, as customers were only allowed to purchase a limited number of items. The company nevertheless received widespread criticism, with people saying that it had treated customers as “prospective criminals.”

The commission ultimately determined that the store’s actions had violated the Personal Information Protection Act, and that the measures taken had been beyond the scope of their original purpose of managing waiting customers. Additionally, the act of denying services to customers who refused to comply with personal information collection was also seen as a violation of related laws.

“Businesses must only collect the minimum amount of personal information essential to the provided service. This case will serve as a reminder that businesses must not refuse services to customers on the grounds that they refused to agree to the collection of personal information unrelated to its purpose,” said the commission.

BY JEONG HYE-JEONG, KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]