"False Advertising of CSAT Question Setting History"... Fair Trade Commission Begins Sanctions on Private Education Companies

Fair Trade Commission confirms 19 legal violations by 9 private education businesses on the 4th

According to an investigation by the Fair Trade Commission, major private education companies were found to have falsely advertised the experience of their instructors and textbook authors in participating in the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) question setting. Additionally, they misled consumers by exaggerating figures such as the number of students who passed after taking their courses.

On the 4th, the Fair Trade Commission confirmed allegations of false and exaggerated advertising against nine private education businesses and sent the examination reports to the respondents on the same day. This came about 80 days after launching the investigation into the private education industry in July. A Fair Trade Commission official explained, “The average investigation period under the Act on Labeling and Advertising is about 200 days, but considering social interest, we completed the investigation in a relatively short time.” The Act on Labeling and Advertising prohibits businesses from misleading consumers through false, exaggerated, or deceptive labeling and advertising, unfair comparisons, or defamatory advertisements that disrupt fair trade order.

Since July, the Fair Trade Commission has been investigating 15 cases of unfair advertising in private education requested by the Ministry of Education. The investigation revealed that a significant number of cases involved legal violations, and including additional violations discovered by the Commission, a total of 19 legal violations were confirmed against nine businesses.

The main types of unfair advertising identified in the investigation include ▲false representation of textbook authors’ credentials ▲

exaggeration of the number of academy students and university passers ▲deceptive labeling of refund-type product transaction conditions.

Notably, among the 19 allegations, seven were related to participation experience as CSAT question setters. Although such experience cannot be disclosed externally, it was confirmed that companies not only used it for commercial purposes but also advertised it falsely or exaggeratedly. A Fair Trade Commission official stated, “In particular, five businesses were found to have falsely advertised that they were CSAT question setters, while in reality they were review committee members or had only general mock exam participation experience.”

The Fair Trade Commission said, “This private education case is significant as it attracted national attention and was handled swiftly as part of a government-wide response by forming a dedicated task force (TF) for important cases.” The TF was composed of seven experienced staff members, including a team leader at the secretary level, to concentrate investigative efforts. The Commission added, “In the future, we plan to actively consider forming TFs to respond to important issues that attract high social interest or have a close impact on citizens’ lives.”

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