Any person may report a violation of the Fair Trade Act to the Commission through mail, telephone, fax, or PC on-line services.
The Secretariat or the Regional Offices of the Commission will thoroughly review the reported cases and determine whether the Fair Trade Act applies or not. If it applies, the Commission initiates investigations; if not, it rejects the case. Following investigations, if no evidences are found to prove any violation, the case is dismissed, while if the violation is proven to be relatively light, a warning is given. However, when the violation is sufficiently heavy and worth issuing corrective measures, on a case-by-case basis, the Commission either recommends the relevant party to make voluntary corrections, or takes the case to the commission meeting for deliberations and adjudgment.
At the commission meeting, the defendant is subpoenaed and given a chance to make a statement. If necessary, his/her statement is verified with the assistance and cooperation of the relevant agencies. When the commission meeting deems the investigations insufficient, it orders a re-investigation. When violation of the law is clearly acknowledged and needs to be corrected or suspended, the commission meeting orders a correction. On a case-by-case basis, the violator is to make a public announcement of the violation in newspapers and so on, or to pay fines. Extremely heavy violations are reported to the prosecution or referred to the relevant agencies for appropriate measures in accordance with the relevant statutes.
The court room is, in principle, open to public. However, when enterprises or trade associations need to protect their business secrets, it may be closed to the public.
Those who have objections to the decisions of the Commission may file an objection at the Commission within 30 days after the date of receiving notification of the Commission's decision. The Commission is to re-deliberate the case within 30 days unless special circumstances make it impossible. If the defendant wishes to raise an objection to the Commission's decision from re-deliberation, it may do so at the court (Seoul High Court) within 30 days. If the Commission deems it necessary, the Commission may suspend the execution of the corrective measure pending the period in which objections may be filed. However, the victims of violation of the Fair Trade Act may file a compensation for damages suit at the court, apart from filing a report at the
Commission.
With respect to businesses or industries frequently reported or
where subcontract transactions occur frequently, the Commission
conducts direct authoritative investigations based on separate
investigation plans.
< Basic content of report >
Trade name, name, address, phone number and other means of contacting the reporter.
Trade name, address, telephone number, name of representative, major business areas of the alleged violator.