The Fair Trade Commission imposed a 1.5 billion won fine on Davichi Optic, a major domestic eyeglass franchise, for forcing its franchisees to meet sales targets and for other unfair trade practices. The commission said on the 21st that it had levied the fine on Davichi Optic, which runs 1,070 franchise stores nationwide, for violating the unfair trade practices rules. Davichi Optic was found to have forced franchisees to purchase a certain amount of goods and to meet sales targets between 2017 and 2020. The company also forced franchisees to sign exclusive contracts for the supply of goods and to use designated suppliers. In addition, the company was found to have used its dominant position to disadvantage franchisees by unilaterally changing the terms of contracts and reducing the franchise period from five years to three years. The Fair Trade Commission said that Davichi Optic's unfair trade practices had caused significant damage to small business owners, who were already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission plans to continue monitoring the franchise industry to prevent similar unfair trade practices.
We haven't written up this one. Hankyoreh has the full story — the link below goes straight to it.
