The Korea Fair Trade Commission said on the 23rd it will revise the Fair Trade Act to allow the dismissal of executives and suspension of business if corporations are caught twice on bid-rigging or price-fixing charges. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also said it is reviewing a plan to require measures such as selling specific business units for corporations whose collusion problems are not resolved.
That day, the government held the special task force of related Ministers on essential consumer prices and announced a plan to eradicate repeated collusion as part of its price stabilization measures. Earlier, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said in February that it would impose a 408.3 billion won penalty surcharge on sugar manufacturer-sellers CJ CheilJedang, Samyang Corporation, and TS Corporation on suspicion of colluding on sugar sales prices from 2021 to 2025. But these companies were also hit with more than 50 billion won in penalty surcharges in 2007 on collusion charges. This sparked calls to toughen economic sanctions against corporations that repeatedly engage in collusion.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) decided to introduce a system that orders the dismissal or suspension of duties for executives if a corporation sanctioned for collusion commits collusion again within 10 years. An FTC official said, "Overseas, authorities can order not only the dismissal of executives but also bans on employment in similar industries," and noted, "We plan to refer to laws in countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, flesh out the details, and make an announcement."
Furthermore, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it will review whether to introduce structural measures such as selling off business units at corporations where collusion occurs repeatedly. It will also push to ask relevant ministries to cancel registrations or suspend business for operators that repeatedly collude.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will also double the penalty surcharge for corporations caught twice in a row engaging in collusion. Until now, the FTC has increased the penalty surcharge by 10% to 80% depending on the number of violations over the previous five years. It also decided to revise the Framework Act on Consumers so that franchisees, dealers, and consumers harmed by collusion can file damages suits.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will also tighten bid participation eligibility restrictions on colluding operators. Previously, eligibility was restricted only in bid-rigging cases, but the scope will be expanded so the FTC can request restrictions on bid participation in cases of price-fixing or output-fixing as well. In cases of repeated collusion, it will improve the demerit point system to require requests for bid participation eligibility restrictions, and it will lengthen by six months the restriction periods for ringleaders of collusion and for simple participants.