The current Act stipulates that where the Minister of Food and Drug Safety shall order to suspend the business of an imported food-related business entity, he/she may impose a penalty surcharge not exceeding two hundred million won in lieu of the disposition for suspension of business.

However, under the Enforcement Decree, a penalty surcharge in lieu of business suspension shall be calculated by multiplying the suspension period by the daily penalty surcharge, which is only 4.04 million won even for business entities with total annual sales of over 10 billion won while the upper limit on penalty surcharge is set at 200 million won, undermining the effectiveness of sanction against imported food-related business entities that make billions of won in total annual sales.

Accordingly, the Amendment modifies the system such that where a penalty surcharge is imposed in lieu of business suspension, the maximum amount thereof shall be not more than 3 percent of sales, thereby aiming to ensure the effectiveness of penalty surcharges and impose suitable penalties against violations (Article 33, paragraph 1).