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South Korea: Apple faces antitrust probe

By  |  December 9, 2015

News has come in that Apple’s repair contracts in South Korea are being investigated by the Fair Trade Commission, the antitrust regulator in the country. The FTC has stated that it is scrutinizing the contracts made between the iPhone maker and local electronic repair companies, as there are allegations of certain unfair clauses in their contracts, that violate customer rights.

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    Based on customer complaints and other suspicions, the FTC is currently investigating the case and hopes to publish its results soon. Earlier in July, the antitrust watchdog ordered six Apple-authorized companies to revise their repair contracts that contained unfair provisions.

    The current investigation focuses solely on business-to-business contracts between the tech giant and its vendors, to establish whether the latter were forced to include the disputed clauses. Apple’s devices, particularly the iPhone, are very popular in South Korea, but have been followed by substandard after-sales service. Prior to the current contract revision, companies used to make unilateral repair decisions and charged an advance fee of US $320, the maximum amount for refurbished iPhones.

    Full content: The Korea Herald

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