Cabinet approves new intra-affiliate trading rules

Economy 11:00 May 23, 2023

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Cabinet passed a new regulation on Tuesday regarding intra-affiliate trading, which aims to reduce excessive regulations by lowering the trading volume ceiling that requires regulatory filing.

Under the revised rules, firms with assets of at least 5 trillion won (US$3.81 billion) are required to file inter-affiliate transactions of 10 billion won or above, compared with the current 5 billion won.

The updated guideline will be implemented on Jan. 1, 2024, following approval by the president.

While companies will still be required to report internal trading worth at least 5 percent of their assets, the updated rule permits them to bypass regulatory filings if the value falls below 500 million won.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) stated that the implementation of the latest measure came as the previous rules did not adequately reflect the country's economic growth in recent years.

"It will allow economic authorities to effectively monitor business groups carrying out large-sized internal transactions," the FTC said in a statement.

The move will also help companies ease the burden of filing internal transactions, it added.