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South Korea: Retails fined in landmark FTC ruling

By  |  November 21, 2013

In the first instance of its kind since the Fair Trade Commission revamped its competition law in 2010, reports say three retailers have been fined for anticompetitive behavior.

Lotte Department Stores, Lotte Mart and UK-based Tesco unit Homeplus have been fined the equivalent of about $5.86 million for various anticompetitive practices. Of the three, Lotte Department as fined the most after the FTC found the chain to have abused its dominant position in requiring smaller vendors to supply sensitive information, including sales occurring at competing chains.

Lotte Mart was reportedly sanctioned for forcing suppliers to provide funds for Lotte Mart’s sporting events, while Homeplus was fined for unloading labor costs onto smaller suppliers, an abuse of market dominance.

Full Content: Global Post

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