[Anchor] <\/p>\n
It has belatedly been confirmed that the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) launched an on-site inspection to look into suspicions that Coupang shifted discount costs onto suppliers, but had to withdraw after Coupang refused to cooperate. This marks the first time an on-site inspection has been suspended due to pushback from a company. <\/p>\n
Reporter Lee Seong-hoon has the details. <\/p>\n
[Reporter] <\/p>\n
The FTC launched its on-site inspection into Coupang on August 19. <\/p>\n
The investigation was aimed at verifying suspicions that Coupang passed the costs of price-matching coupons onto suppliers. <\/p>\n
However, it was confirmed that investigators had to turn back after Coupang refused to comply. <\/p>\n
Coupang argued that the FTC failed to follow the procedural requirement under the Framework Act on Administrative Investigations, which mandates giving written notice seven days prior to an on-site inspection. <\/p>\n
Coupang stated, “We have cooperated with legitimate on-site investigations conducted since January of this year,” adding, “We will seek a court ruling regarding the legality of this investigation.” <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the FTC maintains that the case falls under an exception to the prior-notice obligation. <\/p>\n
[Oh Dong-wook \/ Director General for Distribution Policy, Fair Trade Commission: If there is concern about the destruction of evidence during an administrative investigation, prior notice can be omitted. We determined that this case met those conditions, and since the enactment of the Large-Scale Retail Business Act, we have never given prior notice before conducting an investigation.] <\/p>\n
The FTC attempted to conduct on-site inspections a total of four times up until yesterday, August 24, but inspections ultimately failed to take place due to Coupang’s refusal. <\/p>\n
This is the first time an on-site inspection has fallen through due to resistance from the target company. <\/p>\n
On August 21, Coupang also filed a lawsuit seeking the cancellation of the FTC’s decision to launch an ex officio investigation. <\/p>\n
Considering Coupang’s refusal to cooperate as obstruction of investigation, the FTC is reviewing measures to impose a fine of up to 200 million won. <\/p>\n
(Video Editing: Kim Yoon-sung) <\/p>\n
\u203b <\/p>\n
\u203b Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u24b8 SBS & SBSi. All rights reserved.
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Anchor] It has belatedly been confirmed that the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) launched an on-site inspection to look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[381],"tags":[426],"class_list":["post-131539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-coupang","tag-coupang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}