The Fair Trade Commission has sanctioned the automotive supplies manufacturer Bullson for enforcing minimum selling prices on its dealerships and controlling online distributions and transactions.
On the 14th, the Fair Trade Commission noted that it imposed a corrective order along with a total penalty surcharge of 2.07 billion won on Bullson.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, Bullson designated minimum selling prices for its fuel additive, "Bullson Shot Standard," from 2017 to 2023 for its dealerships, penalizing them with production stops or suspension of promotional support if they did not comply. It monitored online and offline sales prices and tracked which dealership distributed the products through a "label" indicating the manufacturing information of the violating products.
Bullson also required price adjustments from sellers not transacting with dealerships if they did not adhere to the minimum prices, and at times instructed the dealerships that supplied products to those sellers to recall the products. Additionally, indications emerged that it attempted to evade legality by sending a document limiting online sales in the format requested by the dealership council.
Furthermore, Bullson completely banned online distributions of its proprietary products, "Bullson Shot Pro" and "Crystal Quick Coat," and ceased supplies to the sellers that violated this ban. It also engaged in restrictive conditional transactions by designating certain companies of concern for so-called "dumping" (low-priced distribution), preventing dealerships from supplying products to them.
It was also found that Bullson infringed on the autonomous management activities of the dealerships. Bullson forced the dealerships to input sales data such as sales amounts, quantities, and transaction partners into the "BSM (Sales Management System)" when ordering and placing orders, collecting profit and loss data outside the system, like sales profit and operating profit. Some dealerships reportedly induced the submission of confidential sales information by differential bonus payments or separate agreements based on their BSM input performances.
An official with the Fair Trade Commission stated, "Bullson's actions restrict price competition at the distribution level and significantly infringe upon the operational autonomy of dealerships," and noted, "This is a case that hinders consumer choice and distorts market order."