576 companies in the payment sector and 24 companies in the non-payment sector were caught.
Duplicate detection of two companies, announced on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website.
After detection, 6.45 billion won in damages were paid.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) conducted a '2017 Survey on the Status of Consignment and Arrangement Transactions' from November of last year to May of this year, targeting 6,500 companies engaged in consignment and arrangement transactions.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) identified 598 companies for violating the Act on Promotion of Collaborative Cooperation between Large and Small Enterprises. It required improvement and imposed penalty points on 28 companies, excluding those that voluntarily improved within the specified timeframe. Furthermore, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the violations of two companies that concurrently violated the Subcontracting Act and failed to comply with the improvement requests on its website and requested action from the Fair Trade Commission.

A total of 598 companies were caught violating the law this time. 576 companies violated payment deadlines, including non-payment of delivery fees. 24 companies violated non-payment-related laws, including non-issuance of written contracts. Two of these companies committed multiple violations.

Among the 576 companies that violated the payment system, 570 companies voluntarily improved by paying 3.95 billion won in damages as requested during the investigation. Of the remaining 6 companies, 4 companies took corrective action in accordance with the request and paid 2.93 billion won in damages. This resulted in a total of 6.45 billion won in damages being resolved.

Additionally, two companies that failed to meet payment improvement requirements were publicly announced on their website and requested action from the Fair Trade Commission. The two companies had not paid a total of 430 million won in unpaid amounts, including delivery fees, late interest, and bill discounting fees.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups conducts an annual survey on the status of consignment and consignment transactions targeting 1,500 consignment companies of medium and large size and their consignee companies with whom they have business relationships, based on the transaction details for the second quarter.

Based on the results of the first online investigation, companies suspected of violating the law are given the opportunity to voluntarily improve. Furthermore, measures such as on-site investigations, improvement requests, public announcements, penalty point imposition, and education orders are being taken against companies that have not voluntarily improved the law.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to continue its efforts to eradicate unfair practices in consignment and commission transactions by expanding the scope of future surveys to 2,000 consignment companies and 10,000 consignee companies and improving survey techniques.