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This paper raises practical issues concerning the calculation of administrative fines against unreasonable concerted acts based on the analysis of the theoretical approach and decision-making practice of the Supreme Court of Korea. The main points of this paper can be summarized as follows:

First, the purpose of imposing administrative fines is to understand the optimal level of deterrence through the internalization of social damage. Since it is difficult to measure deadweight loss, which is one of the factors of social damage, it is practical to estimate the amount of illegal profits to be reviewed for administrative fines.

Second, a standard amount of the fine for unreasonable concerted acts is calculated by multiplying the sales amount of the violator by a prescribed assessment rate. This so-called relevant turnover-based method is set up as a substitute to simplify the calculation mechanism of the administrative fines. Accordingly, it is necessary to use a reasonable method to calculate the turnover so that the amount calculated by a normal imposition rate is in line with the purpose of the imposition of fines.

Third, the Supreme Court considers the factor of goods contained in the contract as important with respect to determining the scope of relevant goods necessary for such turnover. Based on the Supreme Court’s precedent, whether or not the scope of such goods can be extended to goods other than those contained in the agreement may be specified as matters to be considered as those directly or indirectly affected by the violation.

Fourth, in order to assess the severity of violations that determine the assessment rate, a fine method should be developed that takes into account equally the object-based assessment and effects-based assessment factors.

Lastly, if there are special circumstances under the current system of the Korea Fair Trade Commission(“KFTC”) in which a fine of an optimal amount cannot be calculated even though illegal profits are none or small, the KFTC must properly establish the imposition rate in the base amount determination, considering the stage where the scale of illegal profits and industrial and market factors.