The Fair Trade Commission is launching a dedicated task force to address unfair practices in the food delivery platform market.
On May 12, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it has formed and will begin operating a "Delivery Platform Case Handling Task Force (TF)" as of today. The TF will be led by Ahn Byunghoon, Director General of Deliberation, who oversees investigations at the Commission, with Kim Moonsik, Director General of Market Surveillance, serving as secretary.
The case handling team consists of the Head of Service Industry Surveillance Division and five officials from the Market Surveillance Bureau, including directors and deputy directors. The Economic Analysis Division will be responsible for economic analysis of major practices.
Previously, the Fair Trade Commission handled cases related to delivery platforms across multiple departments. However, since the impact of each case on the market is interconnected, the need for an integrated investigation has emerged.
Recently, there has been a series of reports related to delivery platforms, and new issues of unfair practices have been raised, resulting in a continuous expansion of the scope of investigation and review.
The Fair Trade Commission explained that it established the TF to eliminate inefficiencies caused by overlapping investigations, to accelerate the process, and to comprehensively review the overall delivery platform market.
The TF will handle consent decree applications related to several cases: allegations of tied sales involving Coupang’s membership, allegations regarding the illegal abolition of Baemin's flat-rate advertising product "Ultracall," and allegations that Baemin and Coupang Eats forced best treatment clauses.
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