Who was sanctioned, and for what?

Kakaopay Corp. transferred data on all users three times in 2018 and, from June 2019 to May 2024, data on around 40 million users every day without consent to Alipay in Singapore, which used it to calculate for Apple a score for the likelihood of insufficient funds on bundled App Store payments (NSF score). The authority treated this as an unlawful transfer abroad, imposed a penalty surcharge of 5,968,000,000 KRW and ordered remediation and publication of the decision on the company’s website. In separate decisions on the same day Apple received a penalty surcharge of 2,405,000,000 KRW and an administrative fine of 2,200,000 KRW, and Alipay was ordered to delete the scoring model.

Authority / court

Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC, 개인정보보호위원회)

Area of law

Data protection · International data transfers

Legal basis

Personal Information Protection Act (개인정보 보호법) Art. 28-8(1); Sanktion nach Art. 64-2(1) Nr. 9

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Mitigating circumstances

Reduction of 30% for completed remediation, cooperation and ISMS-P certification; increase of 50% because the infringement lasted more than two years (June 2019 to May 2024).

Published

23 Jan 2025

Original amount 5,968,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Jan 2025.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

From January 2013 to March 2022, the distributor of premium pet food and pet supplies imposed minimum resale prices on its retailers and threatened sanctions if they were undercut. In a settlement procedure, the Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže (Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, ÚOHS) imposed 36.438 million CZK; the company ended the conduct after the inspection and introduced a compliance programme.

Authority / court

Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže (ÚOHS)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Verbot vertikaler Preisbindung (tschechisches Wettbewerbsgesetz, Art. 101 AEUV)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Culpability

intentional

Mitigating circumstances

Termination immediately after the inspection, information of customers about free pricing, full cooperation, settlement and newly introduced compliance programme.

Published

24 Sep 2026

Original amount 36,438,000 CZK, converted at the ECB reference rate of 24 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

During an inspection as part of an investigation into bid rigging, a work mobile phone and documents were removed from the premises on the instructions of a manager, and possession of a work mobile phone was denied. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) imposed a fine of 25,000 GBP on M&J.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Section 40A(1) Competition Act 1998

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Construction and real estate

Culpability

intentional

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not reported here.

Published

24 Sep 2026

Original amount 25,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 24 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 3 · Direct link

Kalibrate's "Market Intelligence" product passed on retailer-specific sales data from petrol stations that allowed conclusions to be drawn about competitors and could facilitate coordinated pricing behaviour. In an agreement registered with the Competition Tribunal, Kalibrate undertakes to supply only aggregated and time-delayed data – the first case under the reformed abuse of dominance rules.

Authority / court

Competition Bureau Canada (Consent Agreement beim Competition Tribunal)

Area of law

Competition law · Abuse of market power

Legal basis

Abuse-of-dominance-Bestimmungen des Competition Act (Fassung 2023)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

24 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Between 2019 and 2021, untreated sewage, sewage residues, diesel from a generator and waste entered a stream and the sea around Faversham and Whitstable; the circumstances of one incident were not reported to the Environment Agency, around 70 fish died, and bathing warnings were in place at beaches in Tankerton and Herne Bay for almost a week. The court imposed a fine of 2,416,666.67 GBP, 69,894.04 GBP in costs and a 190 GBP victim surcharge; it was the company's second conviction that year (announcement of 22 September 2026, exact date of judgment not stated). According to the annual accounts filed with the UK companies register for financial year 2026, the company had around 3,109 employees.

Authority / court

Bromley Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Environment Agency)

Area of law

Environment and sustainability · Emissions and permits

Legal basis

Regulations 12(1)(b) und 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

1,000 to 9,999

Repeat case

yes

Published

22 Sep 2026

Original amount 2,486,750.71 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 3 · Direct link

Carioca Christiani-Nielsen Engenharia S.A. concluded a single settlement (Termo de Compromisso de Cessação) with the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE, Brazilian competition authority) covering four proceedings concerning alleged collusion in public tenders for infrastructure projects (metro, airports operated by Infraero, the rail company CPTM and the transport authority DNIT). The company admitted its participation, allegedly pays 6,134,676.92 BRL in instalments to the Fund for Diffuse Rights (FDD) and waives court and administrative disputes on these matters. Together with the company’s earlier settlements with CADE, its contributions exceed 90 million BRL.

Authority / court

Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Lei nº 12.529/2011 (Lei de Defesa da Concorrência), Termo de Compromisso de Cessação

Action

Other

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Construction and real estate

Published

22 Sep 2026

Original amount 6,134,676.92 BRL, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

From 2016 to 2025, the operator of the OTC Link ATS trading system lacked complete policies on systems security, access control and vulnerability management as required under Regulation SCI. Although the examiners of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had criticised the gaps in several examinations, drafts remained unfinished; the SEC issued a censure and imposed 575,000 USD.

Authority / court

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Area of law

Information security and cyber · Critical infrastructure

Legal basis

Regulation SCI, Rule 1001(a)(1)–(3)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Repeat case

yes

Original amount 575,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

The provider of web-based systems for sickness reporting, rehabilitation and occupational safety incidents was hacked in August 2025; the stolen personal data appeared on the dark web shortly afterwards. The Swedish data protection authority (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY) found that, despite the high need for protection, there were no adequate security measures and no automatic real-time monitoring for attacks, assessed this as negligent and imposed 1,800,000 SEK.

Authority / court

Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY)

Area of law

Data protection · Data breaches and data security

Legal basis

Art. 32 Abs. 1 DSGVO

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Telecoms, IT and software

Culpability

negligent

Published

22 Sep 2026

Original amount 1,800,000 SEK, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

On a total of 249 days, the Portuguese branch of the energy supplier failed to hold the mandatory natural gas security reserves, did not correctly show network charges on invoices, did not publish, or published late, mandatory information and its quality report, and failed to meet the standards for hotline waiting times. In a settlement procedure, the Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (Portuguese Energy Services Regulatory Authority, ERSE) set a fine of 44,000 EUR and reduced it to 22,000 EUR.

Authority / court

Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE)

Area of law

Other

Legal basis

Regime Sancionatório do Setor Energético (RSSE), Art. 28, 29; Decreto-Lei n.º 62/2020, Art. 96; RRC; RQS

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Culpability

negligent

Mitigating circumstances

Settlement (transação) with full admission, remediation of all infringements

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Empire Company Limited, parent company of grocery banners such as Sobeys, Farm Boy, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Marché Bonichoix and Les Marchés Tradition, reached an agreement with the Competition Bureau on its use of property controls in the Canadian grocery sector. The Commissioner of Competition filed it with the Competition Tribunal as a registered consent agreement on 22 September 2026. In June 2026 the Bureau had obtained court orders to advance its investigation into these property controls.

Authority / court

Competition Bureau Canada (Consent Agreement, registriert beim Competition Tribunal)

Area of law

Competition law

Legal basis

Competition Act; beim Competition Tribunal registriertes Consent Agreement (Paragraf in den zugänglichen Quellen nicht genannt)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Employees

10,000 or more

Published

22 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

From March to May 2025, Kinpodo advertised family funerals in exclusively rented halls under the name 'Chiisana Mori no Ie' in television commercials at a price 'from 104,500 JPY'. In fact, apart from a few cases, customers had to pay at least 308,000 JPY; the order required a corrective notice, measures to prevent recurrence and cessation.

Authority / court

Consumer Affairs Agency (消費者庁, CAA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Art. 7 Abs. 1 i. V. m. Art. 5 Nr. 2 Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (不当景品類及び不当表示防止法, Gesetz Nr. 134/1962)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Other

Published

18 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

In 2023, a federal court found by way of summary judgment that the fuel card provider had charged its predominantly small business customers hidden or unauthorised fees and misrepresented savings; an appeals court upheld this in 2026. According to the FTC, the fees added up to hundreds of millions of dollars, and late fees were also charged despite punctual payment. Under the settlement resolving the administrative proceedings, FleetCor and a further settling party are jointly paying 100 million USD for refunds; the order is not yet final.

Authority / court

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Section 5 FTC Act

Action

Disgorgement of profits

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not reported here.

Published

17 Sep 2026

Original amount 100,000,000 USD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 3 · Direct link

From July 2021 to July 2024, the state forestry company contractually prohibited a customer from actively and passively exporting wood chips and logging residues and secured the ban with a right of termination. The Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže (Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, ÚOHS) considered this a restriction of competition by object under Czech and EU law and imposed 17.268 million CZK (first instance, not final).

Authority / court

Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže (ÚOHS)

Area of law

Competition law · Cartels and collusion

Legal basis

Tschechisches Wettbewerbsgesetz, Art. 101 AEUV (Exportverbot)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Food and agriculture

Mitigating circumstances

Voluntary termination immediately after proceedings were opened.

Published

17 Sep 2026

Original amount 17,268,000 CZK, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 2 · Direct link

On 17 September 2026 the Shatin Magistrates' Courts (a Hong Kong magistrates' court), on prosecutions brought by the Labour Department (Hong Kong's labour authority), fined four companies for breaches of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Regulations, the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Electricity) Regulations and the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (Hong Kong workplace safety rules). The case concerned a fatal accident on 10 September 2023 at Hong Kong Science Park, in which a worker received an electric shock while carrying out electrical work. China Power International Development Limited and Towngas - China Power (HK) Integrated Energy Company Limited pay 908,000 HKD each, A. Kourage Limited 904,250 HKD and Skynet Engineering Company Limited 417,000 HKD, 3,137,250 HKD in total.

Authority / court

Shatin Magistrates' Courts, Hongkong (Anklage: Labour Department)

Area of law

Health and safety and employment law · Workplace safety and accidents

Legal basis

Factories and Industrial Undertakings Regulations; Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Electricity) Regulations; Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Published

17 Sep 2026

Original amount 3,137,250 HKD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

According to the sanctions disclosure of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS, Korea's financial supervisor), the online lending platform PFC Technologies transferred the resident registration numbers of 8,497 customers to a third party without their consent on 28 September 2022 in order to calculate the error rate of a new service for mortgage customers, and received credit information on the same customers from that third party, likewise without consent (such as the address and official value of their properties); in addition, when the inspection began it had not implemented password rules against easily guessed numbers. The sanction of 17 September 2026 comprises an institutional warning, an administrative fine (과태료) of KRW 24 million and a penalty surcharge (과징금) of KRW 49 million, KRW 73 million in total.

Authority / court

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)

Area of law

Data protection

Legal basis

Art. 19, 32 und 34 Credit Information Use and Protection Act; Art. 16, 28 und 29 Durchführungsverordnung

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Liability of senior managers

Measures against individuals are not set out here.

Published

17 Sep 2026

Original amount 73,000,000 KRW, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Because revenue had been overstated at the company and its consolidated subsidiary or subsidiaries, the quarterly report for the third quarter of 2023 (filed on 10 November 2023) showed a consolidated loss of 1,382,861 thousand JPY instead of 1,662,516 thousand JPY; the registration statement for a share issue relied on this report, and on 26 February 2024 3,784,200 shares were issued for 3,999,899,400 JPY. After the company admitted the facts and the amount, an administrative monetary penalty (kachōkin) of 91,495,000 JPY was imposed: 1,500,000 JPY for the quarterly report and 89,995,000 JPY for the registration statement.

Authority / court

Financial Services Agency (FSA, 金融庁) auf Empfehlung der Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC, 証券取引等監視委員会)

Area of law

Capital markets and financial supervision · Disclosure and reporting obligations

Legal basis

Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA, 金融商品取引法) Art. 172-4 Abs. 2 a. F., Art. 172-2 Abs. 1 Nr. 1, Art. 185-7 Abs. 1 und 14

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Mitigating circumstances

Both partial amounts were halved because the company had filed a report for a reduction before the inspection began (Art. 185-7(14) FIEA).

Published

17 Sep 2026

Original amount 91,495,000 JPY, converted at the ECB reference rate of 16 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 4 Oct 2026 · Direct link

A 24-year-old labourer working as a temporary worker for a scaffolding company fell, in his second week of work on the developer's housing site, through a stairwell opening that was neither securely covered nor guarded, dropping one storey onto concrete and suffering serious spinal injuries. The court found the company guilty on three counts because it had neither adequately planned nor supervised work at height and had not taken suitable measures to prevent falls. Fine of £300,000 plus costs. The company is a micro-enterprise with fewer than 10 employees.

Authority / court

Leeds Magistrates' Court (Anklage: Health and Safety Executive)

Area of law

Health and safety and employment law · Workplace safety and accidents

Legal basis

Work at Height Regulations 2005

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Construction and real estate

Employees

Under 50

Published

21 Sep 2026

Original amount 300,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 16 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 3 · Direct link

As a so-called fund hotel, the company had its funds managed by other firms, but examined these delegation agreements only insufficiently, did not take the related decisions properly and did not monitor the funds’ returns in relation to risk closely enough. The Swedish financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen (FI) issued a remark and imposed 2 million SEK; no damage to investors was established.

Authority / court

Finansinspektionen (FI)

Area of law

Capital markets and financial supervision · Organisational requirements

Legal basis

Schwedisches Fondsrecht – Regeln zur Delegation der Fondsverwaltung und deren Überwachung

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Mitigating circumstances

No established damage to investors; remedial measures already taken during the investigation.

Published

16 Sep 2026

Original amount 2,000,000 SEK, converted at the ECB reference rate of 16 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Following an on-site inspection, the Finantsinspektsioon (Estonian Financial Supervision Authority) issued an order requiring the payment institution Wallester to remedy, by 31 December, deficiencies in governance and control functions (separation of the lines of defence, internal rules), in safeguarding customer funds and in the staffing of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing function. Date = publication of the press release.

Authority / court

Finantsinspektsioon (Estnische Finanzaufsicht)

Area of law

Money laundering and terrorist financing · Internal controls

Legal basis

Aufsichtsrechtliche Anordnung (ettekirjutus) der Finantsinspektsioon

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Published

16 Sep 2026

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

In an insurance tender in 2024 worth around 200 million CZK, the ministry had parts of the tender documents drawn up by a broker who could later receive commissions from the winning insurer. As the contracting authority took no measures against the conflict of interest, the Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže (Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, ÚOHS) imposed a final fine of 300,000 CZK.

Authority / court

Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže (ÚOHS)

Area of law

Other

Legal basis

Gesetz über die Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge (Pflicht zur Vermeidung von Interessenkonflikten)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Public sector

Culpability

negligent

Published

15 Sep 2026

Original amount 300,000 CZK, converted at the ECB reference rate of 15 Sep 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link