Fair Trade Commission to Intensively Monitor Unfair Internal Transactions of Large Corporations

Fair Trade Policy Advisory Committee Meeting
Using the Publicly Announced Group GDP-Linked Method

The Fair Trade Commission will strengthen its monitoring of unfair internal transactions and evasive regulatory practices within large corporations.

On the 27th, according to the Fair Trade Commission, Chairman Han Ki-jung stated at the 'Fair Trade Policy Advisory Group Meeting' held at the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency, "We will reasonably adjust regulations that excessively restrict corporate activities, but will intensively crack down on unfair internal transaction practices."

Earlier, the Fair Trade Commission announced in its major work plan for this year that it would strengthen monitoring of unfair internal transactions, focusing on industries closely related to daily life such as food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and clothing. It is also considering changing the current standard for publicly disclosed corporate groups (large corporate groups) with assets exceeding 5 trillion won to a method linked to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This standard, which designates large corporate groups based on asset size, was established in 2017, but there have been criticisms that the regulatory criteria have not changed despite annual economic growth and increases in corporate asset sizes.

Furthermore, Chairman Han emphasized, "We will meticulously prepare various protective measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners vulnerable to economic downturns, and promptly correct and remedy damages caused by unfair practices."

To this end, the Subcontracting Act will be amended to nullify the judicial effect of unfair special contracts in the construction sector, and a manual to activate payment claim protection measures will be distributed.

Additionally, regarding the enactment of the ‘Platform Competition Promotion Act (Platform Act)’ that designates giant platform companies as dominant operators in advance, reasonable regulatory measures will be prepared through communication with external stakeholders, and policy reports on new technology markets such as artificial intelligence (AI) will be published.

To strengthen consumer protection in the digital transaction environment, plans will be made to raise the refund amount for mobile gift certificates, improve the validity period of reward points, inspect social network service (SNS) markets and short-form content, and enable compensation for accidents caused by AI and software.

The Fair Trade Commission decided to reflect the advisory opinions presented at the meeting in future law enforcement and institutional improvement processes. The Fair Trade Policy Advisory Group was reorganized last August by integrating the existing advisory groups in the three fields of competition, corporate transactions, and consumers to expand communication opportunities without barriers. It consists of a total of 35 experts from various sectors including universities, economic, civic, and consumer organizations, research institutes, and media outlets.

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