- Request information on the sale amount of goods from the agency and receive a corrective order -
The Fair Trade Commission decided to impose a corrective order on Samsung Electronics' request for information on the sales amount of products corresponding to business secrets from the agency without a reasonable reason.
From January 2017 to September 2023, Samsung Electronics asked dealerships to enter information on sales of home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners they supply into their computer systems.
Sales amount information is important information that needs to be kept confidential because the agency's margin (sales amount - supply amount) is exposed when provided to the headquarters, putting the agency at a disadvantage in negotiating supply prices with the headquarters in the future.
The Fair Trade Commission determined that Samsung Electronics' act constitutes an interference in management activities prohibited in Article 10, Paragraph 1 of the "Act on Fairness of Agency Transactions".
The move is a case of detecting and sanctioning the headquarters, which supplies home appliances, for unreasonably interfering in the management activities of the agency, and is expected to contribute to the establishment of a fair transaction order between the headquarters and the agency by eradicating the act of demanding information on the sales amount, which corresponds to the agency's business secrets.
In the future, the FTC plans to continue to monitor the headquarters' unfair interference in business activities against agencies and strictly enforce the law if the same misconduct recurs.