Official system for Lobbyists
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on October 24 that a set of guidelines on lobbying would take effect at the beginning of next year.
According to the guidelines, persons who work for large corporations or law firms can get in contact with KFTC employees only after registration and the registered persons have to comply with the code of ethics of the KFTC preventing illegal solicitation and imposing the duty of secrecy. Any registered person violating the code cannot have contact with KFTC employees for one year.
Those to be registered include the lawyers and accountants who work for law firms with an annual transaction volume of at least 10 billion won and have been in charge of cases relating to the KFTC, those who are in charge of work related to the KFTC at the 57 large corporations subject to the duty of public disclosure with an asset of at least five trillion won, and KFTC retirees who are in charge of work related to the KFTC at those law firms or corporations.
For such a person to meet a KFTC employee, his or her personal information and details of his or her work should be reported to the KFTC in advance and updated every six months. Any meeting not promised in advance is prohibited, too. Unregistered persons can have no contact at all and the place of the meeting is limited to the KFTC employee’s office if the meeting is for work purposes. Details of the meeting should be reported even if the meeting is not for work purposes.
Still, even those who are unregistered can enter the KFTC if the visit is to take part in a plenary or staff meeting or provide a statement for an investigation. In addition, contact for socially acceptable occasions such as family events and seminars is allowed and does not have to be reported.