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Newsletter | August 2015, Issue 2
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Antitrust & Competition
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Supreme Court affirms appellate decision to overturn KFTC sanctions against S-Oil for alleged collusive market allocation
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On January 29, 2015, the Supreme Court affirmed an appellate decision by the Seoul High Court overturning a judgment by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (“KFTC”), which had imposed administrative fines and corrective measures on S-Oil Corporation (“S-Oil”).
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The KFTC had charged four oil refining companies, including S-Oil, with engaging in an illegal agreement to refrain from soliciting each other’s gas stations to join their own gas station network absent prior consent from the gas station’s previous or current affiliated oil refining company. According to the KFTC, this agreement had a restrictive, anti-competitive effect on the Korean crude oil and petroleum products market. On this basis, the KFTC imposed corrective measures and blockbuster administrative fines on the four oil refining companies, including nearly KRW 438 billion on S-Oil alone.
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After reviewing the record, the Seoul High Court overturned the KFTC’s decision to fine S-Oil for illegal collusion, finding that the evidence cited by the KFTC was insufficient to conclude that S-Oil had engaged in illegal collusion. The Supreme Court, in affirming the Seoul High Court’s decision, further elaborated that the KFTC had the burden of proving the alleged conspirators had a “meeting of the minds,” and the KFTC had failed to meet this burden.
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Kim & Chang represented S-Oil from the very beginning of this matter to the Supreme Court‘s final decision.
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