Law Firm Changchun obtained a judgment revoking in full a KRW 100 million penalty surcharge imposed in lieu of a three-month suspension of business, in a case where so-called counterfeit fuel — diesel mixed with kerosene — was alleged to have been sold.
Recent practice makes it difficult to avoid an administrative disposition such as suspension of business or a penalty surcharge in counterfeit fuel cases, given the adverse social effects including distortion of fuel prices and environmental pollution. Such dispositions can moreover be imposed even where no fault on the party's part is established, unlike in civil law relations, which made this a very difficult matter to contest.
Even so, Law Firm Changchun, drawing on expertise and experience gained working at an oil refining company, effectively emphasized the absence of intent, the defects in the administrative disposition and the principle of proportionality, and achieved the successful outcome of a judgment from the administrative court revoking the KRW 100 million penalty surcharge in full.