Companies Complain About Breaking Law Unknowingly

By Jane Han

Staff Reporter

A Gyeonggi Province-based medium size firm recently built a noise-blocking wall around its factory to relieve area residents from disturbance, but this ``nice act'' slapped them with a fine of 10 million won. The law says the company committed two illegal violations, and the offender says they're confused.

It's one thing when businesses intentionally break the law, but it's another thing when they don't even know what's being violated due to hazy understanding, says a majority of local corporations.

Out of 300 firms polled in a recent survey, 15 percent answered that they have a history of penalization for wrongdoing in business practice or civil liability, the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) said Thursday.

``The Gyeonggi Province factory was fined for breaking the building (construction) law by setting up a wall without permission and for not reporting that the facility is using a motor of more than 250 horsepower,'' said Lee Kyoung-sang, team manager of the KCCI corporate policy division.

Among other reasons for punishment were breaching registration rules, construction laws and environmental regulations.

``There are also cases when companies are not aware that certain laws have changed, so while they think laws are being abided, they're actually in violation,'' said Lee.

As many enterprises seek to upkeep a law-obeying management, nearly 70 percent resented that they have an unclear understanding of current regulations, along with a lack of guidance. But almost 30 percent said it's hard to follow rules even if it's well understood because it's realistically impossible to obey.

When asked about the harshness of punishment, the majority (57.1 percent) said they have no problem with it, while 15.8 percent said there isn't enough chance to appeal and 13.9 percent said the penalty is too extreme.

``I think the general consensus is that many of these businesses want to know about the law and they want to obey it,'' said Lee. ``Also, if and when they are caught for violation, companies ask that they first get a warning or a chance to appeal instead of a one-way ruling.''