Korean Competition Law Enforcement: Recent Developments

This article explains recent developments in Korean competition law enforcement from three perspectives. First, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (‘KFTC’) has recently improved its public enforcement procedures, focusing on preventing the collection of irrelevant materials during its on-site investigations, ensuring confidentiality in the KFTC’s investigations against the legal departments of investigated companies, and enabling more active participation from respondents in expressing their opinions. Second, the most significant progress in the enforcement of Korea’s Monopoly Regulation and Fair-Trade Act (‘MRFTA’) is evident in criminal enforcement. The KFTC and various other national institutions are actively employing criminal penalties, compelling companies to consider criminal procedures early in their response to investigations. Third, advancements have also been made in private enforcement, including (1) increased damage suits by parties injured by MRFTA violations, (2) derivative suits initiated by shareholders to recover company losses, and (3) recent legislative efforts to promote private enforcement through injunctions that prevent and prohibit violations and assist the injured parties in proving damage.