The Fair Trade Commission has revised the operation and evaluation criteria of the fair trade compliance program (CP) to raise the standard for excellent ratings from the previous 70 points to 80 points. In addition, the commission plans to adjust the evaluation method by changing the downgrade measures applied in cases of violations of the Fair Trade Act to a penalty scoring method.
The Fair Trade Commission noted on the 11th that it will prepare a revision proposal for the 'Regulations on CP Operation and Evaluation' containing these details and announce it for administrative notice until the 31st.
The revision proposal includes raising the excellent rating criteria score from the previous 70 points to 80 points to enhance the differentiation of CP evaluations, and adjusting the score differences between ratings to 5 points. Accordingly, the incentive criteria for being recognized as an excellent corporation under CP will also be raised from 70 points to 80 points.
The downgrade measures given for violations of fair trade-related laws will be changed to a penalty scoring method. Previously, if a corporation received a penalty surcharge or was reported for violating the Fair Trade Act, its rating was automatically downgraded by up to 2 levels. The revision proposal abolishes this measure and adjusts it to deduct 3 points from the CP evaluation score, easing the burden on corporations.
In addition, the system for withholding CP rating grants for corporations subject to the Fair Trade Commission's review report will also be abolished. Previously, corporations with submitted review reports had their CP rating evaluations postponed, but this restriction will be eliminated with the current revision.
A new system has also been established to grant a maximum of 1.5 points as an added score to corporations that received an excellent rating or higher in the fair trade compliance evaluation conducted by the Fair Trade Commission in the year prior to the CP evaluation.
A Fair Trade Commission official said, 'With this revision, we expect the CP operation to be revitalized and the efficacy of evaluations to increase,' adding that 'this will create an opportunity for the spread of a fair trade compliance culture.'