Fair trade attorney, what happens if obstruction of FTC investigation is recognized?

The Fair Trade Act, revised in 2017, was changed to impose criminal penalties when investigated companies obstruct or refuse the investigation.

In addition, sanctions have been further strengthened by imposing enforcement fines on investigated companies that do not comply with orders to submit data.

If data is deleted or concealed during an FTC investigation, it can be considered an act of obstructing the investigation, and even if the relevant employee did not receive instructions from the company, the company is held responsible, so caution is required.

The level of punishment for obstruction of FTC investigation as stipulated in the Fair Trade Act is as follows.

Intentional blocking or delaying of on-site entry through verbal abuse or violence during on-site investigation

Imprisonment for up to 3 years or a fine of up to 200 million won

Concealment, destruction, refusal of access, or forgery/alteration of materials during on-site investigation

Imprisonment for up to 2 years or a fine of up to 150 million won

Failure to submit materials/objects or submission of false materials

Imprisonment for up to 2 years or a fine of up to 150 million won

In particular, since the FTC has equipment and specialized personnel that can recover even deleted electronic data, when such circumstances are discovered, they can serve as more definitive evidence of refusal.

Therefore, if you are facing an FTC on-site investigation, manipulating or concealing data may rather lead to unfavorable results, so the help of a fair trade attorney may be necessary.

If you are facing a Fair Trade Commission investigation, please prepare an appropriate response strategy through consultation with a fair trade attorney.