The Korea Fair Trade Commission will push to amend the Fair Trade Act to extend the statute of limitations for cartel sanctions to 15 years. The current statute of limitations for cartels is 12 years, and the plan is to extend it by three years.
Ju Biung-ghi, chairperson of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, said at a briefing with the press corps held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 26th to mark the first anniversary of the Lee Jae-myung administration, "We seek to extend the statute of limitations for cartel sanctions to improve the chances of detecting long-concealed cartels and to strengthen deterrence against legal violations."
Currently, if the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) opens an investigation within seven years from the day the cartel ends, five years are added to the statute of limitations. The structure adds a five-year extension to the basic seven years, and the FTC plans to increase the basic period to 10 years so the total statute of limitations becomes 15 years.
In consultation with the National Fire Agency, the FTC will also seek to cancel the registrations of fire facility contractors and others if they repeatedly engage in cartels multiple times within a set period. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport already revokes the business registration of construction contractors if they repeatedly engage in cartels and receive penalty surcharges at least twice within nine years. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) plans to work not only with the National Fire Agency but also with several relevant ministries to restrict market participation by repeat cartel offenders in about 20 sectors.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) obtains data from each company to identify large business groups (publicly disclosed business groups with assets of at least 5 trillion won), and sanctions will be strengthened for submitting false data. Currently, submitting false designation data for large business groups is punishable by a fine of up to 150 million won or imprisonment of up to two years. Chairperson Ju said, "This level is not sufficiently deterrent against legal violations," adding, "We will seek to introduce a penalty surcharge so that strong economic sanctions commensurate with the gravity of violations can be imposed."
Meanwhile, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will create a 40-member task force for priority investigations. The aim is to strengthen market oversight by establishing a unit to handle large, complex cases. To counter the defense arguments of corporations and other sanctioned entities, the commission will also upgrade the economic analysis division, which analyzes economics and data, to a bureau-level unit and establish a dedicated training department to teach investigative techniques to staff.