[2021 National Audit] Kim Byung-wook "Consent Decree System Becoming Exclusive to Large Corporations... Need to Find Utilization Methods for SMEs"

At the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee Audit
Most of the 9 Cases Citing the Consent Decree System Involve Large Corporations

Kim Byung-wook, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. (File photo)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] During the National Assembly Political Affairs Committee audit, concerns were raised that the Fair Trade Commission's consent decree system has become an exclusive tool for large corporations, and that measures should be devised to increase its utilization by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

On the 5th, Kim Byung-wook, a member of the Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out at the Fair Trade Commission audit held at the National Assembly, "An analysis of the results since the implementation of the consent decree system shows that out of a total of 17 cases, 9 were accepted, and all accepted cases involved large corporations."

Looking at the 9 accepted cases, most involve large corporations such as Samsung, Hyundai Mobis, SK, KT, LG Uplus, Namyang Dairy Products, or big tech companies like Naver and Daum, as well as global companies (SSP Korea, Microsoft, Apple).

Rep. Kim stated, "The consent decree system allows businesses to propose reasonable corrective measures regarding acts suspected of legal violations, such as consumer damage relief and improvement of transaction order, and if the validity of these measures is recognized, the case is closed without confirming illegality. While it has the advantage of encouraging economic and social contributions over criminal punishment, thereby enhancing corporate social responsibility, there have been criticisms that it is being abused by wealthy large corporations to conceal crimes as a cost because it induces economic contributions greater than fines."

He continued, "In the long term, the consent decree system should be actively adopted by SMEs as well, by assigning different scores by item according to company size and providing incentives such as fines reductions for social contributions and victim relief for SMEs. Research on such measures should be conducted," proposing improvements to the system.

In response, Cho Sung-wook, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, said, "It would be good if the use of the consent decree system could be activated for both large corporations and SMEs regardless of company size," and added, "We will review this proposal."

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