Korea FTC fines Baemin 331.1B won, Coupang Eats 300.8B won

South Korea's Korea Fair Trade Commission has fined Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, 331.1 billion won, and Coupang Eats 300.8 billion won, for restricting competition through most-favored-nation clauses, according to TechM. The combined penalty comes to 631.9 billion won.

The commission found that the two delivery app operators required restaurants to offer prices and discounts no worse than those available on other delivery apps, a practice it said limited market competition. The combined fine is the largest ever for the delivery app industry.

Coupang Eats objected to the size of its penalty, saying the amount was about 10 times the 25 to 42 billion won range initially expected in the examiner's report.

Woowa Brothers said it had sincerely argued that there was no illegality in the case and regretted that its explanation was not fully accepted. Both companies said they would review the decision document and decide on further steps.

Earlier settlement attempts

In June, Baemin and Coupang Eats applied to the Fair Trade Commission for a consent decision, offering support measures of 3,000 billion won and 600 billion won respectively, totaling 3,600 billion won. Baemin proposed cutting fees for restaurants and supporting delivery costs, while Coupang Eats promised a win-win cooperation fund and support for advertising and marketing costs. The commission refused to open consent decision proceedings, saying the proposals were insufficient to restore competitive order and remedy damages.