2023 Analysis Report Revisited
Joo Byungki, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, is responding to President Lee Jae-myung's question during the joint briefing of the Financial Services Commission and the Fair Trade Commission held at the Government Seoul Office Annex on the 19th. Photo by Yonhap News
President Lee Jaemyung has pointed out that the price of sanitary pads is unusually high in South Korea, prompting the Fair Trade Commission to launch an investigation.
According to industry sources on December 24, the Fair Trade Commission began on-site inspections the previous day by dispatching investigators to the headquarters of three major sanitary pad manufacturers: Yuhan-Kimberly, LG Unicharm, and KleanNara.
The Fair Trade Commission plans to collect data from these companies to determine whether the high prices of sanitary pads are the result of price collusion or price abuse.
Collusion refers to the act of jointly and unfairly restricting the price, transaction conditions, or transaction volume of goods or services with other businesses. This constitutes an unfair collective act prohibited by the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (the Fair Trade Act). Acts of unfairly determining, maintaining, or changing the prices of products or the fees for services (price abuse) are also prohibited under the Fair Trade Act.
The Fair Trade Commission may impose corrective measures or fines in cases of collusion or price abuse. If the case is particularly serious, it may lead to criminal prosecution.
In this case, the Fair Trade Commission also plans to verify whether sanitary pads labeled as using organic materials or traditional herbal ingredients were actually manufactured with those materials, as these products are traded at especially high prices. If the materials used in sanitary pads are found to be falsely labeled, it would constitute a violation of the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising.
The Fair Trade Commission plans to impose corrective measures and other sanctions if violations by sanitary pad manufacturers are confirmed. Regarding the on-site investigation, a Fair Trade Commission official stated, "We cannot comment on individual cases."
According to the "Report on the Results of Price and Advertising Monitoring of Disposable Sanitary Pads" published by the Women's Environmental Network, a civic group, a survey of domestic and international disposable sanitary pad prices by size in 2023 found that, except for the large size, domestic sanitary pads were more expensive than their foreign counterparts.
The report found that the average price per sanitary pad across all sizes was 195.56 won (39.55%) higher for domestic products than for international ones.
During the Fair Trade Commission's work briefing on December 19, President Lee stated, "I've heard that sanitary pads in our country are very expensive," and requested, "It would be good if you could conduct an investigation."
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