The Korea Times said that there is “growing criticism” of the app stores operated by Google and Apple in South Korea, due to a failure to comply with domestic consumer protection rules.

According to the country’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC), apps can be refunded within 30 days of purchase or detection of a fault, under regulation governing e-commerce transactions. However, it is believed that the US companies are stating that this rule does not apply because the stores are operated out of their home country.

The report noted that the stores of operators SK Telecom (T Store), KT (Olleh Market) and LG Uplus (OZ Store) all comply with the Korean regulations.

The FTC acknowledged that the local branches of Apple and Google were not responsible for the store, but told the Korea Times that “as we also have other laws, we will closely look into the validity of regulating through them.”

Both Google and Apple have had similar issues in Taiwan, which also has specific  consumer protection regulations. In this case, Google removed paid-for apps from Android Market after it was fined by the authorities.