SK Ocean Plant Sanctions Not Issued Written for Modification and Additional Construction

SK Ocean Plant, which did not issue a contract due to modification or additional construction while entrusting the manufacturing of ship parts to suppliers, will be sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission.

The Fair Trade Commission decided to impose a fine of 52 million won along with a corrective order, saying SK Ocean Plant violated its obligation to issue 436 ship parts by entrusting 48 suppliers to manufacture 436 ship parts from February 2019 to December 2021.

The Fair Trade Commission explained that SK Ocean Plant did not issue a document on the grounds that it was revising or constructing additional ship parts entrusted to 416 cases, most of them, and replaced the contract with a settlement agreement after the work was completed.

SK Ocean Plant claimed that the revised and additional construction does not need to be issued in writing considering the nature of the shipbuilding industry, which is difficult to predict in advance and frequent design changes, but the FTC said this case does not meet the exceptional reason for "emergency recovery work due to disasters or accidents."

The Fair Trade Commission recently said the Supreme Court also confirmed that even amendments or additional construction cannot be an exception to the obligation to issue documents under the subcontracting law, stressing that the sanctions are meaningful in taking strict measures against the non-issuance of documents related to amendments and additional construction, which have been continuing in the shipbuilding industry.