FTC chief vows to revoke licenses, suspend operations of repeat cartel offenders

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Ju Byung-ki said Tuesday the agency would pursue regulatory reforms to revoke business registrations or suspend operations of companies that repeatedly engage in price-fixing cartels.

Ju made the remarks in his opening address to the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, noting that the FTC had recently cracked down on a string of cartel cases in the sugar, flour and starch syrup sectors amid a high-inflation environment driven by shifting global conditions.

The FTC also outlined specific amendments to the Fair Trade Act at Tuesday's briefing. The agency plans to codify the legal basis for price-readjustment orders and extend the statute of limitations for administrative penalties from the current maximum of 12 years to 15 years, strengthening the effectiveness of sanctions and deterrence against violations.

The FTC is also pursuing structural remedies — such as forced share sales or business divestitures — for abuse of market dominance and cartel conduct in markets where monopolies or oligopolies have become entrenched. Given the significant impact such measures would have on businesses, however, the agency said it would design the system carefully so that structural remedies apply only as a last resort in exceptional cases.

The agency will also move to improve regulations in sectors where competition is structurally constrained, such as agricultural distribution and the defense industry. It plans to conduct in-depth analyses of market structures and the causes of persistently high prices in monopoly and oligopoly segments that directly affect daily life — including ice cream, cooking oil, movie theaters and OTT services.

Ju said the FTC is pursuing five core priorities this year under the goal of building a fair market environment in which all businesses can grow together.

"To address the power imbalance between large and small businesses, we will overhaul laws and regulations covering subcontracting, franchising and retail, and conduct intensive inspections of major unfair practices such as technology theft and non-payment," he said. "We will also shorten the payment settlement deadlines for large retailers and reform the system so that small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners can collectively negotiate with large companies."

On digital markets, the FTC said it would take firm action against unfair practices by dominant domestic and foreign online platforms. "We will respond consistently in accordance with the law and principles," Ju said, adding that the agency would actively participate in legislative discussions at the National Assembly aimed at establishing fair trading rules between platforms and merchants.

On the regulation of large business groups, Ju said the FTC would "thoroughly monitor rule-breaking conduct such as improper internal transactions and self-dealing." He added that the agency would actively pursue institutional reforms to strengthen the effectiveness of its conglomerate policies — including measures to prevent evasion of self-dealing regulations and to reduce incentives for duplicate listings within holding company structures.

To that end, the FTC plans to amend enforcement decrees to allow surcharges on controlling family members and other individuals in proportion to their illicit gains, and to establish a legal basis for imposing surcharges on unlawful acts designed to evade conglomerate regulations. The agency also plans to clarify the criteria for criminal referrals to deter repeated violations related to the obligation to submit designation data for large business groups.

The FTC is also pursuing organizational reforms to enhance its case-handling capacity and the effectiveness of its sanctions. "We are seeking to add about 400 staff to speed up case processing," Ju said, adding that the agency is simultaneously working to rationalize economic penalties and strengthen financial sanctions to secure meaningful deterrence against legal violations.

The FTC also said at the briefing that it is reviewing a plan to reform the exclusive referral system by granting direct complaint rights to citizens above a certain threshold or to state agencies.

Ju also stressed the need for rigorous merger reviews. The FTC will scrutinize the planned integration of Korea Railroad Corporation and SR with a focus on its impact on consumer rights — including changes to fares, seat supply and service — while thoroughly monitoring compliance with the remedies imposed in the Korean Air-Asiana Airlines merger.

The agency also plans to revamp merger filing standards to cover de facto acquisitions — such as the mass recruitment of key AI talent — that produce the equivalent of a merger or acquisition without a formal transaction. It will also pursue in-depth reviews of mergers in digital markets involving big data and blockchain.