INSIGHTS
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Newsletters VIEW MORENewslettersKim & Chang Legal Newsletter (2019 Issue 3) This issue includes: Amendment of 5% Reporting Requirements to Promote Shareholder Activism KFTC's Amended Guidelines on Antitrust Compliance Programs Take Effect Amendment to the Industrial Technology Protection Act KFTC Proposes Lower Thresholds for Debarring Repeat Bid-Rigging Offenders from Public Procurement Tenders FSC Announces Plans to Relax the Licensing Regime for Financial Investment Businesses Amendment to the Insurance Business Supervisory Regulations Key Tax Law Changes Proposed for 2020 Amendment to the Real Estate Investment Company Act Amendment to the Real Estate Transactions Act Major Labor Laws Effective in the Second Half of 2019 Supreme Court En Banc Decision Held That Welfare Points Do Not Constitute Wages Changes to National Core Technologies New Regulations Regarding the Grading and Labeling of Packaging Materials Current Trends of the Integrated Environmental Management System Cloud Services to Be Designated as Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Kim & Chang Newsletter (2019 Issue 3)2019.12.03
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Newsletters VIEW MORENewslettersKFTC’s Amended Guidelines on Antitrust Compliance Programs Take Effect On October 22, 2019, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (“KFTC”), in an ongoing effort to improve the effectiveness of internal antitrust compliance programs (“CPs”), promulgated the amended Guidelines on the Operation of CPs and Provisions of Incentives (the “Amended Guidelines”), which had originally been announced in August 2019. Among the changes, the Amended Guidelines (i) eliminate previous restrictions that prevented companies with a past history of antitrust violations from applying for a CP evaluation; (ii) exempt companies with the highest CP rating from the requirement to publish the fact that they received a corrective order from the KFTC; and (iii) revise the requirements for adopting CPs. The Amended Guidelines took effect immediately and will be applicable to the upcoming CP rating evaluations in 2020. The purpose of the Amended Guidelines is to improve inadequacies in the current operation of CPs and promote the operation and adoption of CPs. Further, the KFTC expects the Amended Guidelines, which provide special incentives for companies with superior CP ratings, to encourage companies to adopt and operate CPs. Summary of the Amended Guidelines 1. Requirements for adopting CPs The below describes certain amendments related to the adoption of a CP: Added: requirements for the preparation and enforcement of CPs, evaluations of a CP’s effectiveness and improvement measures Deleted: requirement to maintain a document management system Revised: CEO’s commitment and support for compliance, appointment of CP managers, requirements for publishing and utilizing compliance manuals, compliance training sessions, internal monitoring systems, and taking disciplinary measures against executives and employees who engage in antitrust violations Further, the KFTC specified that compliance training must be provided to the company’s CEO and executives and employees in departments with a higher risk of antitrust violations. 2. CP rating system The KFTC removed restrictions that prevented companies with a past history of antitrust violations from applying for a CP rating evaluation by the KFTC. However, past violations will be considered in the ratings evaluation so that companies with clean records are not relatively disadvantaged. Further, the KFTC updated its current evaluation process and rating system by simplifying the evaluation process from three steps to two steps and with respect to on-site evaluations, adding interviews with CP managers as part of the evaluation process. In addition, it also simplified the evaluation system by reducing the number of rating categories from eight to six. 3. Incentives for companies with top CP ratings The KFTC added an exemption for companies with the highest rating (AAA) from the requirement to publish the fact that they were subject to a KFTC corrective order and expanded a basis for mitigation of such publication requirement. Further, the KFTC introduced a reward program for companies that receive a CP rating of AA or higher for two consecutive years. Implication The Amended Guidelines are a continuation of the KFTC’s efforts to take various administrative and legislative measures to encourage companies to adopt CPs. In fact, the amendment bill for the comprehensive overhaul of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Law (“FTL”), currently pending before the National Assembly, provides for a legal basis for providing new rewards and support for establishing and implementing CPs. The KFTC is also preparing a separate amendment to another related guidelines, Guidelines on CP Rating Evaluations, which will reflect the changed content in the Amended Guidelines. We encourage companies to carefully review the details of the Amended Guidelines and make sure that the changes are reflected in the operation of their current or future CPs.2019.11.28
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Newsletters VIEW MORENewslettersKorea Food Update (2019-3) Regulatory Updates Establishment of Methods and Procedures to Report Foreign Substances Detected in Livestock Products Enactment of Detailed Regulations Concerning the Substantiation System of Labeling and Advertisement of Foods, Etc. Enactment of Detailed Regulations Concerning the Contents of Fraudulent Labels and Advertisements of Foods, Etc. Mitigation of Manufacturing/Processing Standards for Liquid Products for Children Improvement of Management of Distribution Stages of Imported Food Products Regulatory Updates ? Health Functional Foods Partial Amendment to the Notification on the Health Functional Food Code Administrative Notification for Proposed Partial Amendment to the Health Functional Food Code Amendment to Notification Based on the Result of the 2018 HFF Re-Evaluation Announcement of the 2020 Periodic Re-Evaluation of HFFs2019.11.26
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Newsletters VIEW MORENewslettersKorea Environmental Legal Update (Autumn 2019) The Ministry of Environment Finds Certain Household Chemical Products to be in Violation of the Safety Standards Audit Board Further Identifies Numerous Issues with Air Pollution Measurement Vendors Amendment to the Clean Air Conservation Act to Strengthen the Regulations on Volatile Organic Compounds Seoul Administrative Court quashed the Ministry of Environment’s decision to disclose information on chemical substance2019.10.10
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Newsletters VIEW MORENewslettersKCC Conducting Compliance Monitoring of Mobile Applications The Korean Communications Commission ("KCC") has recently commenced monitoring mobile apps for their privacy law compliance. The KCC and the Korea Internet & Security Agency ("KISA"), through an agent, are checking the content of the mobile apps, and when they detect an app to have certain non-compliance issues relating to Korean privacy law and location information law, they are apparently sending out a request to the app developers to explain the non-compliance and to remedy the violation. Some examples of violations that the KCC and the KISA detected included defective consent procedure, lack of privacy policy, and lack of consent for accessing the information in the mobile device. The KCC is conducting this monitoring across different industries, including mobile apps developed by foreign developers, if the app can be viewed as falling within the jurisdiction of the Korean privacy laws. Therefore, if you receive a request from the agent acting on behalf of the KCC and the KISA, you should first determine whether your app appears to be subject to the Korean privacy laws. As you may know, Korean privacy laws and location information laws have very strict opt-in requirements, and violations can result in sanctions ranging from an administrative fine to criminal penalties. Therefore, for companies that develop mobile apps and collect personal information and location information, it would be prudent to check the compliance status. If you have already received the request for explanation and remedy from the KCC and the KISA, it would be necessary to develop a response plan so as to minimize the risk of sanctions.2019.10.04
김·장 홍보
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Winner of “Korea Law Firm of the Year” for Seventh Consecutive Year
At the ALB Korea Law Awards 2019 on November 15, 2019, Kim & Chang won “Korea Law Firm of the Year” for the seventh year in a row.
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Only Korean Firm Among the World’s Top 100 Law Firms
According to The American Lawyer’s “The Global 100,” Kim & Chang ranked among the world’s top 100 law firms for the sixth year in a row.
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“Tier 1” Rankings in All Six Categories
In the 2020 edition of IFLR1000, Kim & Chang ranked “Tier 1” in all six categories surveyed for Korea, maintaining top-tier rankings for 16 consecutive years.
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