Pusan National University (PNU) revised the original rules' provisions immediately after the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) pointed out two unfair terms. The situation of disposing personal items left in the dormitory when leaving or the method of how the posted announcements are delivered to all the students is likely to change.

On November 17th, the FTC announced that it investigated the clause of the dormitory operators of 26 national and private universities nationwide, including PNU dormitory, and identified and corrected six unfair terms. It emphasized only the discipline of community and administrative convenience. It also revised and deleted clauses that excessively infringed on the student's rights.

Here are six revised clauses: excessive penalty for termination of an intermediate contract (3 universities), a spot check of an empty private room (4 universities), delayed return of cost settlement, such as deposit and management fees (11 universities), discretionary disposition of personal possession in dormitory (5 universities), unspecified business decisions (8 universities), and the announcement after posting the notice such as a public announcement (13 universities).

Two clauses were uncovered at PNU: discretionary disposition of personal property in a dormitory and the announcement to be delivered to all students 48 hours after posting the notice, such as a public announcement. Following the terms, the FTC pointed out that the provision of arbitrary disposal of personal possessions by the dormitory infringes on the student’s ownership. In addition, it announced that when important content affecting students' rights or obligations such as refund or penalty clauses changes, the student should be informed and notified of the contents over a sufficient period of time and through a medium that can be communicated clearly.

PNU has corrected the unfair terms and conditions pointed out by the FTC. Article 21 of section 4 of the regulations at the PNU Busan Campus and Yangsan Campus was changed from “All neglected possessions after the students leave the dormitory will be disposed of,” to “Each room should be restored to the original state after the students leave.” In addition, the clause contained in the three PNU dormitories' guidelines, including the Miryang campus, “All announcements and posts are supposed to be delivered to all students regardless of whether they were notified individually or not after 48 hours of posting,” was deleted.

The PNU dormitory said it would announce the revised regulations by the end of this year. A staff of the student support team said, "We will keep the personal possessions rather than completely disposing them, and also, we will promote the announcements by using the dormitory application dedicated to the campus life announcements so that students can get notifications, like the disaster text messages." 

Reporter Kim Min-Sung

Translated by Park Yeon-Hee