( August 20, 2026, 08:39 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: South Korea’s National Assembly on Thursday passed changes aimed at making it easier for businesses to pursue damages claims and seek reinvestigation of competition and subcontracting complaints. Amendments to the competition and subcontracting laws will allow courts to require the Korea Fair Trade Commission to submit case materials when plaintiffs cannot obtain necessary evidence through reasonable efforts, subject to exceptions including leniency materials, certain internally generated documents, non-public information and trade secrets. They will also broaden courts’ power to order litigants to produce evidence needed to prove the underlying violation, not just damages, and extend that mechanism to all competition-law damages claims. The package also gives complainants 30 days to request reinvestigation when the regulator takes no action, and excludes qualifying mediation periods from the limitation period in subcontracting cases. The changes take effect one year after promulgation.Statement is attached (in Korean)....
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