Fair Trade Commission Investigates Unfair Trade Practices by Distribution Companies

Written Survey on Actual Conditions for 7,600 Delivery Suppliers

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 14th that it will conduct the '2024 Written Survey on the Distribution Sector' targeting 7,600 suppliers and store-in operators trading with 42 distribution brands across 9 business types.

The Fair Trade Commission has been conducting the written survey on the distribution sector annually since 2006. This year, to better understand trading practices across a wider range of business types, duty-free shops and specialty stores were added to the existing 7 business types.

Accordingly, Hotel Shilla, Lotte Duty Free, Shinsegae Duty Free, Hyundai Department Store Duty Free, Olive Young, Daiso, Hi-Mart, and Electron Land were newly included among the surveyed distribution companies.

Through the survey, the Commission plans to identify experiences of unfair trade practices by type, perceptions of improvements in trading practices, the status of standard contract usage, and awareness of new system improvement measures.

It will also conduct an awareness survey on newly introduced systems such as the management prohibition clauses under the Large-scale Distribution Business Act and promotional event guidelines.

The Fair Trade Commission plans to analyze the survey results around November to observe trends in trading practices over the years and announce the findings.

The Commission stated, "The survey results will be broadly utilized for discovering system improvement measures and establishing plans for ex officio investigations."