Yoon Seok-yeol Government's Achievements and Future Policy Plans in the Fair Trade Sector
As the Yoon Suk-yeol administration enters its second half of the term, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has self-assessed that over the past two and a half years, it has uncovered market misconduct in the livelihood and key industrial sectors and established an institutional foundation for effective regulation, including addressing the abuse of monopoly power by online platforms.
During the remaining period, the KFTC announced plans to swiftly respond to anti-competitive behaviors by monopolistic platforms through legal amendments, develop competition promotion measures for sectors where long-term monopolistic structures have become entrenched, and continue institutional improvements and strict law enforcement to reduce unreasonable burdens on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners.
On the 11th, the KFTC released a report titled "Building a Fair Market Economy Supporting Dynamic Market Innovation and Livelihood Stability," reviewing the past two and a half years since the launch of the Yoon administration and presenting future policy plans.
The KFTC stated that from May 10, 2022, to November 5, 2024, it detected a total of 5,837 cases of market misconduct in sectors including livelihood and key industries, imposing fines totaling 1.1557 trillion KRW on businesses violating the law.
It also reported achievements in strengthening the fair trading foundation for economically vulnerable SMEs and small business owners and enhancing consumer rights. Through institutional improvements such as the introduction of a delivery price linkage system, improvement of essential item transaction practices in the franchise sector, and strengthening punitive damages for technology misappropriation, as well as rectifying various unfair practices, the KFTC strengthened the foundation ensuring SMEs and small business owners receive their rightful shares and enabled them to feel improvements in trading practices.
Additionally, the KFTC stated, "We promptly addressed various consumer issues, including regulating dark patterns, implementing consumer protection measures for overseas online platforms, designating unfair practices related to shrinkflation, compensating damages from probability-based game items through collective dispute mediation, and responding to damages from the Timf incident."
To reduce burdens on the public and businesses and enhance trust in case handling, the law enforcement system was also reformed. Regulations restricting large marts, ride-sharing and rental car operations, and automobile quality-certified parts were improved, and policies for large business groups, such as narrowing the scope of relatives for the same person and reducing disclosure burdens, were rationalized.
Alongside this, organizational restructuring to separate policy and investigation functions and improvements in investigation procedures were prioritized, resulting in a 22.2% reduction in the average case processing time compared to the previous year.
Looking ahead, the KFTC plans to continue efforts to amend the Fair Trade Act and the Large-scale Distribution Business Act to respond to anti-competitive behaviors by monopolistic platforms and prevent a recurrence of the second Timf incident. It will also work on institutional enhancements to foster innovation and competition in future new industries that form the foundation for sustainable growth, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and climate tech.
At a briefing that day, Cho Hong-seon, Vice Chairman of the KFTC, said, "We will make every effort until the end to advance the amendments to the Fair Trade Act and the Large-scale Distribution Business Act currently proposed in the National Assembly to effectively address the abuse of monopoly power and the issues between dominant and subordinate parties in platform companies."
He added, "We will strengthen monitoring of unfair practices such as collusion that directly increase the economic burden on the public in livelihood-related sectors, and for sectors where long-term monopolistic structures have been maintained, we will continue to develop competition promotion measures based on market analysis."
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