OECD Warns "Real-Time Price Disclosure Fuels Collusion"... KFTC to Strengthen Pre- and Post-Verification

Price Disclosure for Public Interest at Risk of Exploitation as a Collusion Tool
Double-Layered Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Verification Network to Be Intensified

The government's "price transparency" policy, which aims to induce price reductions by publicly releasing prices in real time, has drawn warnings from international organizations that it could be misused as a "mutual monitoring tool," actually facilitating tacit collusion among businesses.

The Korea Consumer Agency's Chamgag Site, which discloses the prices of daily necessities. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on July 28, this concern was a major topic at the "Information Exchange in Competition Policy" session during the regular meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Competition Committee held in Paris, France last month. The OECD Competition Committee pointed out that "government-led price transparency policies may in fact have the unintended consequence of promoting collusion." The Korean delegation to the meeting was led by KFTC Chairperson Joo Byeong-gi as chief representative.

In Korea, representative examples include Korea National Oil Corporation's oil price information website "Opinet" and the Korea Consumer Agency's "Chamggak Price" website, both of which regularly disclose price fluctuations to aid consumer benefit. However, the OECD explained that even price disclosure systems established for public purposes can be exploited as real-time monitoring or price adjustment channels among competitors.

To prevent such side effects, the OECD urged competition authorities in each country to substantially strengthen "Competition Advocacy"—robust intervention at the policy design stage of information disclosure systems by other ministries or regulatory agencies, in order to identify and eliminate competition-restricting elements in advance. "Competition Advocacy" refers to the institutional advisory actions by competition authorities to ensure competitive principles are reflected in government policies or regulations, going beyond direct enforcement of the law.

In response, the KFTC plans to further reinforce both ex-ante and ex-post reviews of price disclosure and information release policies promoted by other ministries for reasons of price stability or consumer protection. Rather than creating new frameworks, the agency intends to make greater use of existing administrative procedures. For example, the KFTC will apply "competitive impact assessments" to any newly legislated or introduced price disclosure regulations to filter out excessive provisions in advance. For policies already in operation, the KFTC will include them in the annual "competition-restricting regulatory reform agenda," conduct commissioned studies and field surveys, and actively submit improvement opinions to related agencies.

A KFTC official stated, "Disclosing price information can enhance consumer trust, but in monopolistic or oligopolistic market structures, real-time price visibility may serve as a signal for collusion or as a tool for mutual monitoring," adding, "We will proactively offer input and streamline regulations during policy design by other departments to minimize any negative side effects."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.