[Bills in Focus] Protecting lessees in rental housing, tackling retailers' interference with suppliers' affairs

Proposed bill: Partial Amendment to the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

Proposed by Rep. Kim Hee-gon (People Power Party)

● To clarify the standard for defining a “business group,” this amendment specifies the scope of business and extent of liability of the term “the same person.” Additionally, in response to the criticism of the excessive criminal penalties imposed on businesses who refuse to submit materials required to designate businesses, this amendment replaces criminal penalties with administrative fines, specifying the explicit responsibilities of business groups.

Proposed bill: Companies Act

Proposed by Rep. Kwon Chil-seung (Democratic Party of Korea)

● To more efficiently accommodate the rapid changes and evolving needs in the business landscape, this bill consolidates company-related laws that are dispersed across the Commercial Act, the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, and the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, etc., to establish a separate comprehensive legal framework dedicated solely to corporate laws.

Pending bill: Partial Amendment to the Special Act on Private Rental Housing

Proposed by Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon (Democratic Party of Korea)

● To enhance the resident stability of lessees of private rental housing, this amendment recognizes the preferential transfer right of the lessee. It determines that the price of the transfer will be based on the means of the construction costs and the appraisal value of the renting housing unit and calculated according to a detailed calculation method prescribed by presidential decree.

Promulgated bill: Act on the Promotion of Mutually Beneficial Cooperation Between Large Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises

Competent Authority: Ministry of SMEs and Startups

● This bill introduces a price linkage system to reduce the administrative burden on commissioned enterprises to foster a culture of mutually beneficial cooperation between SMEs and large enterprises. It requires price fluctuations of raw materials to be reflected in the prices of delivered goods and imposes administrative fines or penalty points in cases where these matters are not specified in the commissioning agreement or when large enterprises refuse to adopt the price linkage system.

Administrative announcement: Partial Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Fair Transactions in Large Retail Business

Competent Authority: Fair Trade Commission

● This bill establishes legal grounds to prohibit large retailers from interfering with the management activities of suppliers and specifies the detailed types of such interference. It also introduces a procedure to streamline the process for suspending lawsuit proceedings in mediation cases and raises the cap for reducing administrative fines to up to 70 percent to encourage businesses to voluntarily correct violations and expedite support for damage relief.

The Korea Herald republishes a weekly legislative report by local law firm DR & AJU LLC to provide the latest information on bills approved, proposed, pending, and set to be promulgated. -- Ed.

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For any queries about the bills, contact cr@draju.com.