독점규제 및 공정거래에 관한 법률 제19조 제1항 제1호의 부당한 공동행위의 종기

Pursuant to Article 19(1), subparagraph 1 of the now repealed, Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (refers to the act prior to the Amendment Act No. 7315, December 31, 2004), in case where price fixing and acts are performed under the unfair collaborative agreement, the completion date of the unfair collaborative act should be the date on which the acts to perform the agreement are completed. Accordingly, in order for the unfair collaborative acts of partially participating enterprisers who jointly agreed to perform under such agreement to be deemed complete, there must be showing the intent, explicitly or implicitly, to withdraw from unfair practices toward the remaining enterprisers. Furthermore, the withdrawing enterpriser, on its independent determination, must carry out practices that would be contrary to the joint agreement, including lowering prices to the one which would be fixed without the unfair collaborative agreement. In addition, for unfair collaborative acts to be complete by all enterprisers involved in the unfair collaborative agreement, there must be explicit revoking of such agreement. Also there must be actual revocation by the participating enterprisers. The factors taken into consideration to determine this actual revocation of the agreement may include independent determination by each enterpriser and performing acts such as lowering prices below the agreed-price level, which would exist if it were not for the collaborative agreement or repetitive price competition among the enterprisers continued for a certain period of time. The case discussed in this paper provides helpful guidance to determine the completion date of the agreement to fix prices and acts performed under unfair collaborative acts under Article 19(1), subparagraph 1 of the now repealed, Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (refers to the act prior to the Amendment Act No. 7315, December 31, 2004).