The government will begin a phased investigation into collusion and unfair trade practices in essential goods and services, education, and energy starting next month. Companies that repeatedly engage in collusion may face orders to divest their businesses, as well as the cancellation of licenses and permits, as part of proposed legal amendments.
On the morning of August 28, the government announced its "Plan for a Joint Government Response to Protect Livelihoods" during an emergency economic headquarters meeting led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol.
Previously, the government focused its response on three major areas directly related to public safety: voice phishing, transnational crime, and drug-related issues. Moving forward, it will expand its scope to include unfair trade practices and crimes that exploit systems and entrenched bad habits.
Key targets for this response include collusion, abuse of monopoly power, rental and insurance fraud, scalping, excessive pricing, and illegal private lending and debt collection. The government will also crack down on deceptive consumer practices that exploit tariff quotas for undue profit.
The Fair Trade Commission plans to investigate essential goods and services, education, and energy, starting with food and housing, which have a high impact on citizens. Earlier this year, the government uncovered approximately 20 trillion won in collusion in the food sector, including sugar and flour.
If initial evidence of legal violations is found during the collusion investigation, the government will immediately collaborate with law enforcement agencies and the National Tax Service and Customs Service. This approach aims to enhance the speed of responses to legal violations by linking administrative investigations with tax and customs inquiries from the outset.
To increase the likelihood of detecting unfair trade practices, the government eliminated the cap on whistleblower rewards in June. It is also pursuing amendments to the Fair Trade Act to extend the statute of limitations for collusion, allowing for penalties even if collusion is discovered after a long period.
The government plans to impose stricter penalties on habitual colluders. Companies that repeatedly engage in collusion may face orders to divest their businesses, as well as the cancellation of registrations and permits or suspension of operations. This decision comes from the belief that imposing fines alone is insufficient to deter collusion, necessitating measures that either remove the business from the market or restrict its operations.
The joint response team will operate as a vice-ministerial consultative body, led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Fair Trade Commission, with participation from the National Police Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Science and ICT, Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, National Tax Service, and Customs Service.
The joint response team will share investigation and enforcement information among agencies and jointly crack down on livelihood infringements. Reports on the detection of collusion and improvements in unfair practices will be periodically submitted to the task force for special management of the cost of living and announced publicly.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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