Court suspends effect of Fair Trade Commission's 'price re-determination order' for paper and mill companies

(Seoul, Sejong = Yonhap News) Reporters Lee Young-seop and Kim Soo-hyun = It was confirmed that the court suspended the effect of the price re-determination order issued by the Fair Trade Commission to printing paper manufacturers and milling companies.

According to the legal community on the 16th, the Seoul High Court recently accepted an application for suspension of execution filed by three paper companies, including Moorim SP [001810], Moorim Paper [009200], and Moorim P&P, against the Fair Trade Commission, asking "to suspend the effect of the price redetermination order."

The effect of the Fair Trade Commission's order was suspended until 30 days from the date of the first trial of the main lawsuit.

The court ruled that “there is an urgent need to prevent irreparable damage.”

Separately from these, it is known that the application for suspension of execution filed by Hankuk Paper [027970] was also recently cited.

Last April, the Fair Trade Commission imposed a total fine of 338.3 billion won on six companies, including Moorim SP, Moorim Paper, Moorim P&P, Hankuk Paper, Hansol Paper [213500], and Hongwon Paper, and issued an order prohibiting them from violating the law in the future and ordering independent price re-determination.

It is judged that these six companies met more than 60 times between February 2021 and December 2024 and agreed to raise the sales price by raising the standard price of printing paper (twice) or reducing the discount rate (five times), and did so in violation of the Fair Trade Act.

The Fair Trade Commission ordered these companies to independently re-determine the prices of printing paper-related products and report changes every half year for the next three years.

It was the first time in 20 years since the flour collusion incident in April 2006 that the Fair Trade Commission approved such a price re-determination order, and the second time since the Fair Trade Commission was launched.

The court accepted the suspension of execution of four of the six companies sanctioned for collusion.

It is reported that the application for suspension of execution filed by some companies in relation to the price re-determination order imposed in the flour fixing case along with printing paper was also recently cited.

In May, the Fair Trade Commission imposed a total fine of 671.045 billion won on seven major domestic flour mills for allegedly fixing flour prices over a six-year period and ordered them to re-determine prices.

The Fair Trade Commission has issued price re-determination orders to starch sugar companies in addition to paper and flour mills, but it has been reported that there has been no application for suspension of execution from the starch sugar industry yet.

An official from the Fair Trade Commission said, “We plan to re-appeal the case in which the suspension of execution has been cited,” and added, “We will prove the legality of the disposition in the main lawsuit.”