Fair Trade Commission Conducts Survey on 50,000 Dealerships... Checks for Unfair Trade Practices

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Fair Trade Commission will inspect the actual conditions of resale price maintenance practices by manufacturers targeting 50,000 dealerships.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 27th that from August 8 to September 9, it will conduct a "Dealership Transaction Survey" targeting about 800 suppliers and 50,000 dealerships across 18 industries.

Resale price maintenance is an act where manufacturers force distributors such as dealerships to keep sales prices at a certain level, which has the effect of pushing prices up like collusion. It is prohibited under the Fair Trade Act.

The survey targets approximately 800 suppliers in industries including food and beverages, clothing, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, automobile sales, auto parts, furniture, home appliances, book publishing, boilers, petroleum distribution, medical devices, machinery, feed, daily necessities, alcoholic beverages, paint, and cosmetics, and 50,000 businesses randomly selected from 116,135 dealerships supplied by these suppliers.

Since 2018, the Fair Trade Commission has conducted annual surveys on dealerships in 3 to 6 industries, but starting this year, it plans to survey all 18 industries previously investigated every year to analyze changes in transaction conditions.

The Fair Trade Commission stated, "This survey added the investigation of resale price maintenance practices affecting price inflation, the usage status of standard dealership contracts, and the degree of improvement in unfair trade practices to the survey contents."

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