Fines on Excessive Newspaper Promotions

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) stated on May 25 that they will begin reporting to the prosecution authorities any major newspapers offering excessive prizes or free publications in their circulations. They are also reviewing a reward program for reporting such newspapers.

Kang Dae-hyung, secretary of the FTC, announced this “Newspaper Industry General Countermeasure” containing these plans at the Kwachon government building during a press conference today.

Kang stated, “The size of the branch, frequency, and degree of the violations will determine whether or not the FTC reports them to the authorities” and added, “For example, if a branch circulating more than 3,000 copies turns out to have gained more than 10 percent of its new customers through prizes and such, the first offense will incur a fine, the second, a public announcement of the violation, and the third will lead to the reporting to the authorities.”

Kang further added, “If the main office is found to have been involved in such incidences for multiple times, they will also be reported.”

The FTC decided to observe how the market will develop first, then it will pick additional areas to perform an authority inspection on all newspapers in those areas in the later half of this year.

Kang said, “If branch inspections reveal evidence that the head office ordered such violations, the main office will be inspected as well.”

With regard to the implementation of the rewards, Kang said, “The FTC is working on plans to gather funding for this next year” and added, “Plans are being revised to make the branches cover part of the rewards.”

The FTC plans to begin distributing posters and stickers as part of the “Newspaper Industry Normalization Campaign” with various consumer associations and public opinion associations beginning on June 3 and lasting until 2006.

Chi-Young Shin higgledy@donga.com