Valentine Whiskey Importer Pernod Ricard Korea, 60 Billion KRW Rebates Over 10 Years

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 11th that it imposed fines worth approximately 900 million KRW on Pernod Ricard Korea and Pernod Ricard Korea Imperial, which mainly import overseas whiskey products, for providing rebates amounting to 60 billion KRW.

According to the Fair Trade Commission, Pernod Ricard Korea provided money under the name of loans to 248 entertainment retail stores from October 2010 to June 2020, and then exempted the repayment obligation of the loans when the stores purchased the company's products such as whiskey. Through this method, they provided a total of approximately 35.25 billion KRW in money over 400 instances.

Pernod Ricard Korea Imperial also provided money worth approximately 26.27 billion KRW to 313 entertainment retail stores over 438 instances from October 2010 to April 2019 using the same method. Both companies are Korean subsidiaries of the French liquor company Pernod Ricard and operate as a single business entity, mainly handling whiskey products such as Ballantine's, Chivas Regal, and Royal Salute.

The Fair Trade Commission decided to impose corrective orders and fines totaling 918 million KRW, stating that the two companies unfairly attracted customers by providing rebates worth approximately 61.53 billion KRW to entertainment retail stores.

The Fair Trade Commission said, "This action is significant in that it uncovered and corrected the entrenched unfair rebate practices in the liquor industry over a long period of about 10 years," and added, "We expect that unfair competition methods such as improper rebates in the liquor market will be eradicated and fair competition based on price, quality, and service levels will be established."

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