(1) Where business suspension issued under Article 32(4) is deemed likely to cause a serious inconvenience to consumers, etc., the Fair Trade Commission may, in lieu of the suspension of all or part of the business, impose upon the relevant business operator penalty surcharges, which do not exceed the sales revenue associated with the violation prescribed by Presidential Decree. In such cases, if the relevant sales are nonexistent or indeterminate, etc., penalty surcharges of up to 50 million won may be imposed.
(2) The Fair Trade Commission may establish and publicly notify the criteria for determining whether to impose penalty surcharges in lieu of the suspension of all or part of the business under paragraph (1).
(3) In imposing penalty surcharges pursuant to paragraph (1), the Fair Trade Commission shall deliberate on the following:
1. Severity of the damage to consumers caused by such violation;
2. Degree of the business operators’ effort to compensate for the damage to consumers;
3. Scale of profit from such violation;
4. Details, duration, frequency, etc. of the violation.
(4) Where a company which is the business operator who has violated this Act merges with another company, the Fair Trade Commission may impose penalty surcharges on, and collect them from, the company surviving the merger or resulting from the consolidation, deeming that such violation has been committed by such company.
(5) Deleted. <Jun. 12, 2018>[This Article Wholly Amended on Feb. 17, 2012]