# Foreign AI business operators above the threshold must designate a domestic representative in Korea

- **Record type**: Obligation
- **Instrument**: Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of a Foundation for Trust (AI Basic Act, Act No. 20676)
- **Jurisdiction**: South Korea
- **Category**: governance_accountability
- **Binding**: Yes
- **Applies from**: 2026-01-22
- **Provision**: Article 36

## What the duty requires

An AI business operator without an address or place of business in Korea, whose user numbers or revenue meet the thresholds set by Presidential Decree, must designate in writing a domestic representative with an address in Korea. The representative handles the operator's duties under the Act, including submitting the Article 32 safety results, supporting high-impact AI confirmation and cooperating with fact-finding investigations, and the operator is treated as responsible for the representative's acts.

## What an organisation does about it

Check user and revenue figures against the decree thresholds and appoint a Korean representative by written designation before the duty bites.

## Controls that meet this duty

- Contractual allocation of AI duties across the supply chain (satisfies): https://aipolicytracker.org/controls/contractual-allocation-of-ai-duties

## Parent instrument

- Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of a Foundation for Trust (AI Basic Act, Act No. 20676)
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/south-korea-framework-act-on-the-development-of-artificial-intelligence-and-establishment-of-a-foundation-for
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/south-korea-framework-act-on-the-development-of-artificial-intelligence-and-establishment-of-a-foundation-for.md

## Provenance

- **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-36-domestic-representative
- **Official source**: https://www.law.go.kr/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=268543
- **Provision**: Article 36
- **Review status**: pending review
- **Confidence**: medium
- **Facts last confirmed**: never confirmed against the official source
- **Retrieved**: 2026-09-24
- **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

> This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.