The Consumer Cooperative in Jenteh Hsiang, Tainan County, and the United Consumers' Cooperative in Tainan County together with other consumer cooperatives of a similar nature violated the Fair Trade Law for non-members exempt from the member requirements of free entrance to the cooperatives

Chinese Taipei

1. A certain Mr. Yu reported that the consumer cooperative in Jenteh Hsiang, Tainan County, the United Consumers’ Cooperative in Tainan County, together with other consumer cooperatives with similar nature were exempted from paying business tax, and the electricity expenses and salaries of the employees were even paid for by the local government. Although these cooperatives required buyers to become members of the cooperative, some consumers were still allowed to purchase in despite of being non-members. These cooperatives thus were threats to the survival of supermarket investors. A letter was therefore forwarded to this Commission requesting for investigation and action.

This Commission on April 11, 1997 sent personnel to the students’ and government employees’ united consumer cooperative in Tainan County and the consumer cooperative in Jenteh Hsiang, Tainan County to inspect the on-site membership verification process, as well as to understand their actual methods of operations.

It was found that the united consumer cooperative in Tainan County was previously sanctioned by the Commission based on the Commission’ s (83) Kung Chu Tzu No. 142 Disposition dated December 9, 1994. The disposition ordered the said consumer cooperative to discontinue acts that were obviously unfair and sufficient to disrupt trading order. After re-investigating its membership verification process, this Commission found that the said consumer cooperative failed to discontinue its unlawful acts. Thus a fine of NT$300,000 was imposed pursuant to Article 41 of this Law, and the said consumer cooperative was again ordered to discontinue acts that would disrupt trading order.

2. This Commission also found that the consumer cooperative in Jenteh Hsiang, Tainan County failed to actually inspect membership cards, therefore selling products to the general public. This act was obviously unfair to general retail businesses, and was sufficient to disrupt trading order. Thus a desist order was imposed in the Disposition based on Article 24 of this Law.

＠: For information of translation, click here

[Browse by APEC Member Economies] [Browse by Subject Categories] [Home]
[Decisions] [Approvals] [Interpretations] [Administrative Guidance]