Korea's Antitrust Regulator Adds Prepaid Installment System to Market Watch Team

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it revised its internal staffing rules to assign its special transaction monitoring team the operation and management of a new information system for prepaid installment transactions, a change tied to an amendment of the Installment Transactions Act that passed the National Assembly in August.

The revision, which took effect the same day, adds the prepaid installment system as a dedicated duty of the special transaction monitoring team under the regulator's market surveillance bureau. The team will also take on investigation, corrective orders, business suspension, registration cancellation, fine imposition and compliance checks for violations of the Act on Door-to-Door Sales and Similar Transactions.

The Fair Trade Commission issued the revision as a prime ministerial decree. One provision covering the door-to-door sales enforcement work takes effect Thursday instead of immediately, while the rest of the revision applies from the day it was issued.

The revision also incorporates changes required by the amended Installment Transactions Act and addresses gaps identified in the current system's operation, the filing said.