It was confirmed on the 6th that the Korea Fair Trade Commission reduced the penalty surcharge by nearly 100 billion won while sanctioning a sugar price-fixing case worth about 3.2 trillion won. The reason for the penalty surcharge reduction was that the companies involved in the collusion cooperated with the Korea Fair Trade Commission during the investigation and deliberation process.
According to the written decision released that day, the Korea Fair Trade Commission imposed a penalty surcharge of 395.8 billion won on CJ CheilJedang, Samyang Corporation, and TS Corporation for colluding on sugar prices. That is 99.1 billion won (about 20%) less than the initially calculated first penalty surcharge of 494.9 billion won.
Accordingly, by company, CJ CheilJedang's penalty surcharge fell from 172.9 billion won to 138.3 billion won, Samyang Corporation's from 162.8 billion won to 130.2 billion won, and TS Corporation's from 159.2 billion won to 127.3 billion won. On the reason for the reduction, the Korea Fair Trade Commission said, "From the investigator's probe stage through the close of deliberations, they consistently acknowledged the facts of the conduct and actively cooperated with the investigation by submitting materials or making statements that helped assess illegality." Under the notice on detailed standards for imposing penalty surcharges, cooperation in the investigation and in the deliberation can reduce the penalty surcharge by 10% at each stage, or up to 20% in total.
There is another indication of why the three companies received lower penalty surcharges. A penalty surcharge is calculated by multiplying the related sales by the imposition rate set according to the severity of the conduct, and in this case, the Korea Fair Trade Commission chose the lowest imposition rate available. For a "very serious violation," the imposition rate is set between at least 15% and less than 20%. The Korea Fair Trade Commission applied a 15% imposition rate to the three companies. Had it applied the maximum rate of 20%, the three companies' penalty surcharges could have increased by 132 billion won from the original amount.
Meanwhile, the three companies have filed an administrative lawsuit, arguing that the Korea Fair Trade Commission's sanctions are excessive.