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4. What is considered “discriminatory treatment”? What are the related regulations in the Fair Trade Act?

A4:
 
The term discriminatory practices in Article 20(ii) of the Act refers to enterprises giving discriminatory treatments to other enterprises without legitimate reasons. Thus, if an enterprise has legitimate reasons for its discriminatory practices, this article is not applicable. Under Article 26 of the Enforcement Rules of Fair Trade Act, factors that should be taken into account when determining the presence of legitimate reasons are market supply and demand; cost differences; transaction amounts; credit risk; and other reasonable causes. When enterprises offer different fees to customers basing upon factors such as the customers’ financial conditions, business operation and management, and industry characteristics and prospects, such extension of different terms and conditions of trading can generally be seen as falling under the scope of "legitimate reasons" in Article 26(1)(iv) of the Enforcement Rules to the Fair Trade Act, therefore the discriminatory treatment is not necessarily in violation of this Act. In actual cases, however, the applicability of the Act to specific acts should still be determined on a case-by-case basis.
 
Relevant article(s) of law: Fair Trade Act, Article 20;
Updated at:2016-02-22 14:50:33
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