The Korea Fair Trade Commission (Chairman Joo Byung-ki, hereinafter ‘KFTC’) has decided to impose corrective orders and a total fine of 4.358 billion KRW (tentative amount) on eight companies for colluding to pre-determine the successful bidder and bid prices in bids conducted by local governments and water management service contractors for the purchase of organic coagulants for water purification from May 2017 to March 2023. One company will also be prosecuted.
Organic coagulants are high-molecular compounds added to the water treatment process to coagulate and precipitate fine particles that are not completely dissolved in natural water. They are classified into powder and liquid forms based on their physical properties. At the time of the violation, only two companies, SNF Korea and Kolon Life Science, were producing powder-type organic coagulants, making it easy for them to reach a basic agreement to respect each other’s supply orders.
Based on this, the two companies agreed in advance on the successful bidder, dummy bidders, and bid prices for each individual bid. The KFTC issued corrective orders and imposed fines for this collusion, and decided to prosecute one company.