Survey to cover price-linkage compliance, payment terms and unjust deductions; review period extended from six months to one year
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will conduct its annual survey of unfair trade practices, targeting 15,000 subcontracting and contracting firms. Starting this year, the ministry is expanding the review period from six months to a full year to strengthen oversight.
The ministry announced Sunday that the 2026 regular survey of subcontracting and contracting transactions will begin Monday.
The annual survey is a statutory requirement under the Act on the Promotion of Mutually Beneficial Cooperation between Large Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises. This year's survey covers 3,000 contracting firms and 12,000 subcontracting firms — 15,000 in total — and examines whether unfair trade practices occurred in transactions conducted last year.
Key areas of review include compliance with the supply-price linkage system, issuance of written agreements, payment of delivery fees and adherence to payment deadlines, unjust reductions or determinations of delivery fees, and improper demands for technical data.
Subcontracting and contracting transactions refer to arrangements in which a company engaged in manufacturing, construction, processing, repair, sales or services entrusts the production of goods, parts or technology development to another small or medium-sized enterprise. Under the act, contracting firms must pay delivery fees within 60 days of receiving goods, and are prohibited from unjustly reducing payments or demanding technical data without legitimate cause.
Starting this year, the ministry is extending the survey's coverage from the first-half six months to a full 12 months. The change is intended to reduce the risk of excluding industries — such as retail, food and construction — where transactions are concentrated in the second half of the year, and to strengthen oversight of annual transactions as a whole.
The survey will proceed in three stages. The first targets 3,000 contracting firms and examines transaction records including payment histories. The second covers 12,000 subcontracting firms and checks whether written agreements were issued and whether the supply-price linkage system was followed.
The third stage involves on-site inspections of firms suspected of violating the law. Companies that voluntarily correct violations during the survey process — such as by paying subcontractors the full amount of any damages — may be exempted from on-site inspections.
Contracting firms found to have violated the act will face administrative measures under relevant regulations, including improvement orders. Actions against violators are set to begin in June next year.
Alongside the survey, the ministry will hold information sessions for businesses in six regions nationwide — Gwangju, Daejeon, Seoul, Daegu, Busan and Gyeonggi Province — from Tuesday through Oct. 30. Further details about the survey are available on the integrated subcontracting and contracting transactions portal for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Lee Eun-cheong, director general of the ministry's Mutually Beneficial Cooperation Policy Bureau, called on companies to participate actively. "Shared growth begins with the establishment of fair trade," Lee said. "We ask for companies' active cooperation so that this survey can serve as an opportunity to carefully listen to voices from the business community and find solutions for a fair trade culture and mutually beneficial cooperation."
boo@heraldcorp.com
