Only Three Companies Newly Introduced Fair Trade Compliance Programs Last Year

Yoon Kwan-seok, Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, "The Purpose of the System Must Be Preserved Through Legal Revisions and Incentives"

Source: Office of Yoon Kwan-seok, Democratic Party of Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The number of companies newly adopting the Compliance Program (CP) for fair trade is sharply decreasing.

According to data on the 'Increase and Decrease Trends of Companies Newly Adopting CP' received by Yoon Kwan-seok, chairman of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, from the Fair Trade Commission on the 6th, only three companies newly introduced the CP, an internal compliance system operated independently to comply with fair trade regulations, last year.

The number of companies newly adopting CP dropped from 109 in 2011 and 66 in 2012 to 35 in 2013, 46 in 2014, and further down to 4 in 2015.

Afterwards, the numbers fluctuated with 16 in 2016, 22 in 2017, and 15 in 2018, but last year it decreased to three, fewer than in 2015.

CP is a system where an evaluation committee composed of experts such as professors or lawyers in the field of fair trade assigns grades through document evaluation, in-depth interviews, and on-site visits. Companies receiving an A grade or higher can be exempted from the Fair Trade Commission's ex officio investigations.

Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok pointed out, "Although CP is a very important system, the CP grade evaluation is conducted based on administrative regulations rather than laws, resulting in low legal stability, and incentives such as reduction of fines have been abolished, decreasing the motivation to apply."

He added, "The laws should be revised and incentives increased to realize the purpose of the system's introduction."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.