South Korea moves to raise antitrust fine floors, toughen repeat-offender surcharges
( March 9, 2026, 03:00 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has proposed a sweeping overhaul of its fine guidelines, arguing current penalties have not been strong enough to stop companies from repeatedly violating competition law. The Korea Fair Trade Commission said the draft would raise minimum fine rates across violation types, including lifting cartel floors to 10 percent from 0.5 percent for less serious cases, 15 percent from 3 percent for serious cases and 18 percent from 10.5 percent for very serious cases. The regulator also plans to tighten surcharges for repeat offenders, with a single prior violation within five years triggering up to a 50 percent increase and multiple violations up to 100 percent, while companies fined for collusion within the past 10 years could face a 100 percent surcharge in a new cartel case. It would also cut cooperation-based reductions to a maximum of 10 percent from 20 percent and voluntary-correction reductions to 10 percent from 30 percent. The proposal will be open for public comment from March 10 to March 30.Statement is attached (in Korean)....
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