The government said on Friday it will improve the distribution system of imported cosmetics and tighten monitoring of unfair trade practices and deceptive advertising to lower their prices.

Prices of imported beauty products remained high despite Korea’s free trade agreements with the European Union and the U.S. which went into effect in July last year and March this year, respectively.

“We will reduce the excessive retail margins incurred by exclusive imports and sales and provide consumers with accurate information about the price and quality to help them make rational choices,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said in an anti-inflation meeting of related ministers Friday.

The ministers at the meeting also discussed policy measures to deal with the drought and curb oil prices by allowing new suppliers to enter the competition.

The government plans to induce large retailers to participate in cosmetic imports and sales, ease quality test standards to encourage parallel imports and trim excessive retail margins.

The government said it will also increase support of domestic research and development to produce high-end herbal cosmetics, functional cosmetics such as anti-aging products and environment-friendly beauty products that can compete with imports.

The Fair Trade Commission is scheduled to disclose in August the prices of 40 European and U.S. cosmetic brands in each of the different distribution channels and stages, and the differences with prices in other countries.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration will look for misstatements or false advertising, check on the use-by dates and review, manufacturing and quality control processes.

To diversify the supply channels of petroleum products, Samsung Total will supply 35,000 barrels of gasoline to discount gas stations in July and gradually increase the supply, the government said.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)