FTC slaps W1.6b antitrust fine on BGF Retail

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has slapped convenience store chain BGF Retail with a fine of 1.6 billion won ($1.31 million) for violating a subcontracting law, officials said Thursday.

The Fair Trade Commission said CU, one of the leading convenience store chains in Korea, was found to have forced subcontractors to pay more than 50 percent of costs for buy-one, get-one-free marketing activities between 2014 and 2016. 

During the period, the retail firm set up an operation strategy and objectives on a monthly basis and carried out promotional events. In the process, BGF Retail made 79 suppliers pay an amount exceeding 50 percent of sales promotion costs (around 2.3 billion won) for 338 events, the FTC said. 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)