Recent Developments In Korean Franchise Law

Strict Enforcement of Annual Update Registration Deadlines 

Since 2008 Korean franchise law has imposed registration and disclosure obligations on franchisors. In recent years this has seen a steady increase in the number of disclosure document registrations. The Korean Fair Trade Commission ("KFTC") therefore recently implemented a new policy to identify dormant disclosure documents. The KFTC will cancel disclosure document registration, at its discretion and without prior notice, if a franchisor fails to satisfy its annual update obligations by filing an update application within 120 days from the franchisor's fiscal year end. As an alternative to cancelling the disclosure document registration, KFTC may impose an administrative fine.