• Title/Summary/Keyword: Consumer protect

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Can Threatened Moral Self Make People Prefer Ecological Product? - An Eye Tracking Research based on Chinese Face Consciousness

  • Shi, Zhuomin;Zheng, Wanyi;Yang, Ning
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.21-42
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    • 2016
  • Purpose: Social influence has a decisive role in shaping a person's cognition and behavior. Chinese face consciousness, including moral component, is an important part of Chinese traditional culture, which influences people to implement moral behavior. With both eye-tracking technology and traditional questionnaire, this research aims to explore people's moral psychology and the psychological processing mechanisms of Chinese face consciousness, as well as the impact of Chinese face consciousness on the preference for the ecological product. Method and Data: 75 college and MBA students' eye movement data were collected when they read different kinds of moral materials, as well as data from the subsequent questionnaires. To test the hypothesis, ANOVA analysis and Heat Map analysis were performed. Besides, the PROCESS of bootstrap was used to test mediation effect. Findings: The results reveal that: 1. Compared to the moral-situation reading, when subjects read immoral situations, they need more processing time due to the moral dissonance and cognitive load. 2. Compared to the control condition, when threatened moral self is primed, subjects prefer to choose ecological product. 3. Protective face orientation is the mediator between threatened moral self and preference to ecological product. Key Contributions: First, this study broadens the use of eye-tracking technology in marketing and demonstrates a better understanding of the relationship between morality and consumer behavior in a more scientific way. Second, this study not only distinguishes the meanings between "protective face orientation" and "acquisitive face orientation", but also innovatively validates that when moral self is threatened, consumers tend to choose ecological product as moral compensation in order to protect their face. It can shed light on the promotion of ecological product in practical applications.

The Effects of the Revision of Intellectual Property Rights-relevant Laws based on the FTA between the Republic of Korea and the United States (한미 자유무역협정에 따른 지적재산권 관련 법률개정의 효과)

  • Jung, Young-Jae;Park, Hwie-Seo
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.14 no.8
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    • pp.137-144
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    • 2009
  • On July 23th, 2009, the newly-revised copyright law was reflected the free trade agreement which occurred between the United States and the Republic of Korea. The agreement is expected to have positive effects such as competition as well as the social efficiency in the field of intellectual property. Nevertheless, Korean government should pay much costs, Therefore, we should minimize the cost in a short run and maximize the benefits we could obtain out of the agreement in a long run. However, we are not prepared to improve economic value of the intellectual property rights. Specifically, it should be noted that the aspects of law execution to protect not only the intellectual property rights. If we manage to get the utmost out of the agreement, we could be going through the transition from a consumer nation of intellectual properties to a producer nation.

Latest Trends in the Mushroom Industry of the People's Republic of China (중국 버섯 산업의 최신 동향)

  • Myung Soo Park;Minkyung Kim;Geon Sik Seo
    • Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.5-15
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    • 2024
  • China is the largest producer and consumer of mushrooms, and the development of China's mushroom industry poses a serious threat to Korea, which has similar mushroom production and consumption tendencies. China's mushroom industry produced only 50,000 tons around 1985 when statistical data began to be published, but by 2020, it has developed into an industry with annual production exceeding 40 million tons. The rapid development of the mushroom industry in China is due to high profitability, rapid funds turnover, rapid return on investment, active support from local governments, increased preference and consumption of healthy foods due to increased national income, expansion of overseas exports, and introduction of automated facility cultivation. Recently, there is a high possibility that mushroom production through automated facility cultivation in China will be excessive, so if measures are not taken, there is a high possibility that it will encroach on the Korean mushroom market. Therefore, in order to protect domestic mushroom farmers and industries, it is necessary to accurately identify and analyze the current status of China's mushroom industry.

Study on the effect of small and medium-sized businesses being selected as suitable business types, on the franchise industry (중소기업적합업종선정이 프랜차이즈산업에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Chang-Dong;Shin, Geon-Chel;Jang, Jae Nam
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.17 no.5
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    • pp.1-23
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    • 2012
  • The conflict between major corporations and small and medium-sized businesses is being aggravated, the trickle down effect is not working properly, and, as the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the business limiting system continues to swirl, the plan proposed to protect the business domain of small and medium-sized businesses, resolve polarization between these businesses and large corporations, and protect small family run stores is the suitable business type designation system for small and medium-sized businesses. The current status of carrying out this system of selecting suitable business types among small and medium-sized businesses involves receiving applications for 234 items among the suitable business types and items from small and medium-sized businesses in manufacturing, and then selecting the items of the consultative group by analyzing and investigating the actual conditions. Suitable business type designation in the service industry will involve designation with priority on business types that are experiencing social conflict. Three major classifications of the service industry, related to the livelihood of small and medium-sized businesses, will be first designated, and subsequently this will be expanded sequentially. However, there is the concern that when designated as a suitable business type or item, this will hinder the growth motive for small to medium-sized businesses, and designation all cause decrease in consumer welfare. Also it is highly likely that it will operate as a prior regulation, cause side-effects by limiting competition systematically, and also be in violation against the main regulations of the FTA system. Moreover, it is pointed out that the system does not sufficiently reflect reverse discrimination factor against large corporations. Because conflict between small to medium sized businesses and large corporations results from the expansion of corporations to the service industry, which is unrelated to their key industry, it is necessary to introduce an advanced contract method like a master franchise or local franchise system and to develop local small to medium sized businesses through a franchise system to protect these businesses and dealers. However, this method may have an effect that contributes to stronger competitiveness of small to medium sized franchise businesses by advancing their competitiveness and operational methods a step further, but also has many negative aspects. First, as revealed by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the franchise industry is contributing to the strengthening of competitiveness through the economy of scale by organizing existing individual proprietors and increasing the success rate of new businesses. It is also revealed to be a response measure by the government to stabilize the economy of ordinary people and is emphasized as a 'useful way' to revitalize the service industry and improve the competitiveness of individual proprietors, and has been involved in contributions to creating jobs and expanding the domestic market by providing various services to consumers. From this viewpoint, franchises fit the purpose of the suitable business type system and is not something that is against it. Second, designation as a suitable business type may decrease investment for overseas expansion, R&D, and food safety, as well negatively affect the expansion of overseas corporations that have entered the domestic market, due to the contraction and low morale of large domestic franchise corporations that have competitiveness internationally. Also because domestic franchise businesses are hard pressed to secure competitiveness with multinational overseas franchise corporations that are operating in Korea, the system may cause difficulty for domestic franchise businesses in securing international competitiveness and also may result in reverse discrimination against these overseas franchise corporations. Third, the designation of suitable business type and item can limit the opportunity of selection for consumers who have up to now used those products and can cause a negative effect that reduces consumer welfare. Also, because there is the possibility that the range of consumer selection may be reduced when a few small to medium size businesses monopolize the market, by causing reverse discrimination between these businesses, the role of determining the utility of products must be left ot the consumer not the government. Lastly, it is desirable that this is carried out with the supplementation of deficient parts in the future, because fair trade is already secured with the enforcement of the franchise trade law and the best trade standard of the Fair Trade Commission. Overlapping regulations by the suitable business type designation is an excessive restriction in the franchise industry. Now, it is necessary to establish in the domestic franchise industry an environment where a global franchise corporation, which spreads Korean culture around the world, is capable of growing, and the active support by the government is needed. Therefore, systems that do not consider the process or background of the growth of franchise businesses and harm these businesses for the sole reason of them being large corporations must be removed. The inhibition of growth to franchise enterprises may decrease the sales of franchise stores, in some cases even bankrupt them, as well as cause other problems. Therefore the suitable business type system should not hinder large corporations, and as both small dealers and small to medium size businesses both aim at improving competitiveness and combined growth, large corporations, small dealers and small to medium sized businesses, based on their mutual cooperation, should not include franchise corporations that continue business relations with them in this system.

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A Study on the Legislative Guidelines for Airline Consumer Protection (항공소비자 보호제도의 입법방향)

  • Lee, Chang-Jae
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.3-51
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    • 2017
  • From a historical point of view, while the Warsaw Convention was passed in 1924 to regulate the unified judicial responsibility in the global air transportation industry, protection of airline consumers was somewhat lacking in protecting air carriers. In principle, the air carrier does not bear any obligation or liability when the aircraft is not operated normally due to natural disasters such as typhoon or heavy snowfall. However, in recent years, in developed countries such as the US and Europe, there has been a movement in which regulates the air carriers' obligation to protect their passengers even if there is no misconduct or negligence. Furthermore, the legislation of such advanced countries imposes an obligation on the airlines to compensate the loss separately from damages in case the abnormal operation of the aircraft is not caused by force majeure but caused by their negligence. Under this historical and international context, Korea is also modifying the system of aviation consumer protection by referring to other foreign legislation. However, when compared with foreign countries, our norm has a few drawbacks. First, the airline's protection or care obligations are mixed with the legal liability for damages in the provision, which seems to be due to the lack of understanding of the airline's passenger protection obligation. The liability for damages, which is governed by the International Convention or the Commercial Act, shall be determined by judging the cause of the airline's liability in respect of the damage of the individual passenger in the course of the air transportation. However, the duty to care and the burden for compensation shall be granted to all passengers who feel uncomfortable with the abnormal operation regardless of the cause of the accident. Also, our compensation system for denied boarding due to oversale is too low compared to the case of foreign countries, and setting the compensation amount range differently based on the time for the re-routing is somewhat unclear. Regarding checked-baggage claim, it will be necessary to refund the fee only from the fact that the baggage is delayed without asking whether there is any damage occurred from the delayed baggage. This is the content of the duty to care, which is different from the current Commercial Act or the international convention, in which responsibility is different depending on whether the airline takes all the necessary measures in order to prevent delaying of the baggage. The content of force majeure, which is a requirement for exemption from the obligation to care passengers on the airplane, shall be reconsidered. Maintenance for safe navigation is not considered to be included in force majeure, and connection to airplanes, airport conditions are disputable. According to the EC Regulation, if the cause of the abnormal operation of the airline is force majeure, the airline's compensation obligation is exempted but the duty to care of airline company is still meaningful. Furthermore, even if the main role of aviation consumer protection is on an airline, it is the responsibility of government agencies to supervise the fulfillment of such protection obligations. Therefore, it is necessary for the Korean government to actively take measures such as enforcing incentives for airlines that faithfully fulfill their obligation to care and imposed penalties on the contrary.

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Article 61bis of the Aviation Business Act and the Legal Principles for the Aviation Consumers Protection - Comparison with the U.S. "Tarmac Delay Rule" - (항공사업법 제61조의2 신설과 항공소비자 보호 법리 -미국의 "Tarmac delay rule"과 비교를 중심으로-)

  • Baek, Kyeong-Won;Hwang, Ho-Won
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.169-195
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    • 2020
  • With the increase in air transportation, air delays are inevitable, and the damage of air consumers is also increasing. In Korea, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced 「the Criteria for Protection of Users of Air Transportation」, but the Criteria does not include aviation delays except Tarmac delay, but this criteria is a only public notice, not an Act. Lately, a clause about Tarmac delay was newly established as Article 61bis of the Aviation Business Act, and was enacted from May 27, 2020. The Air carriers' Tarmac delay are subject to mandatory regulations. This research showed how lawsuits were implemented for the protection of aviation consumers related to aviation delays prior to the imposition of this article. In addition, the study examined at the public law level, whether the protection rights of aviation consumers is the fundamental right under the Constitution and whether the government should be the main subjects of consumer protection. And then we studied the effect of enforcement about the Tarmac Delay Rule of the United States. This rule acts as a federal regulation. Subsequently, the Biscone case presented that it was not easy for the US court to accept a lawsuit against the passengers for tarmac delay. There are limitations in remedying the damages of airline consumers due to delays either in Korea trial or the U.S. trial. Finally it needs strengthening the penalty to secure the effectiveness of the Tarmac delay clause regulations. In order to protect airline consumers, it was proposed that the protection of aviation consumer law should be established through the revision as the Enforcement Rules of the Airline Business Act.

The Outcome of the 6th ICAO Worldwide Air Transport Conference and Fair Competition Policy in International Air Transport (국제항공운송의 최근 동향과 항공운송의 공정경쟁정책 -ICAO 제6차 세계항공운송회의 결과를 중심으로-)

  • Shin, Dong-Chun
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.97-114
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    • 2013
  • The 6th Worldwide Air Transport Conference was held in Montreal in March 2013 under the auspices of ICAO. This conference, which has been held every ten years, is dealing with virtually every issue of international air transport, and aiming at updating ICAO policy in order to ensure long-term growth of international civil aviation. Last conference which took place in 2003 focused on the liberalization of air transport, and the 6th conference shifted its focus from whether to push for liberalization, to how to implement it. The main agenda items for the 6th conference was liberalization, safeguards, ownership, fair competition, airports and air navigation facilities, charges, and ICAO policy. The liberalization, and in particular progressive liberalization has been a main theme over the past decades. In the process leading to liberalization, there needs to be the expansion of market access, easing regulation on ownership and control of airlines. Furthermore, the provision of enough infrastructure such as airport and air navigation facilities may be contributing factor to remove impediments to liberalization. However, out of concern as for undermining interests of consumer and the weak, when liberalization is proceeding in a sudden and radical manner, there should be safeguards so as to ensure market participation by developing countries, consumer protection, and economical and transparent decision on taxes and charges. Fair competition which differs from promoting competition in the market, is a policy in order to protect the weak players and consumers from monopoly and oligopoly. The Korean delegation submitted 3 WPs (WP/85, 86 and 87) and 1 IP, and presented WPs, at the conference, which were a lot compared with previous occasions. A paradigm shift was emphasized to expedite the process of liberalization at the 6th conference. The reality is that with many previous recommendations to stress the importance of liberalization, and to urge States to change their attitudes, the pace of the liberalization has been very slow and staggering. The liberalization of air transport will contribute to the growth of air transport and related industry, to create new employment, promoting tourism and regional development, and further to facilitating mutual understanding and exchange, which will also lead to making a barrier-free world. In this context, it is expected that the next conference will also evaluate the on-going process of liberalization.

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Korean Style System Model of Financial ADR (한국형 금융ADR의 제도모델)

  • Seo, Hee-Sok
    • Journal of Legislation Research
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    • no.44
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    • pp.343-386
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    • 2013
  • "Financial ADR" system in South Korea can be represented by so-called "Financial Dispute Resolution System", in which Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and Financial Dispute Resolution Committee are the principal actors in operation of the system, and this is discussed as an "Administrative Financial ADR System". The system has over 10-year history since it was introduced in around 1999. Nonetheless, it was not until when financial consumer protection began to be highlighted after the 2008 financial crisis that Financial ADR system actually started to draw attention in Korea. This was because interest has been rising in "Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)" as an institutional measure to protect financial consumers damaged via financial transactions. However, the current discussion on the domestic Financial ADR system shows an aspect that it is confined to who is to be a principal actor for the operation of Financial ADR institution with main regards to reorganization of supervisory system. This article aims to embody these facts in an institutional model by recognizing them as a problem and analyzing the features of the Financial ADR system, thereby clarifying problems of the system and presenting the direction of improvement. The Korean Financial ADR system can be judged as "administrative model integrated model consensual model quasi-judicial model non-prepositive Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) model". However, at the same time, it is confronted with a task to overcome the two problems; the system is not equipped with institutional basis for securing its validity in spite of the adopted quasi-judicial effect model; and a burden of operating an integrated ADR system is considerable. From this perspective, the article suggests improvement plans for security of validity in the current system and for expansion of industry-control ADR system, in particular, a system of prepositive IDR model. Amongst them, it suggests further plans for securing the validity of the system as follows; promotion to expand the number of internal persons and to differentiate mediation procedures and effect; a plan to keep a financial institution from filing a lawsuit before an agreement recommendation or a mediation proposal is advised; and a plan to grant suspension of extinctive prescription as well as that of procedures of the lawsuit.

Consumer Awareness and Evaluation of Retailers' Social Responsibility: An Exploratory Approach into Ethical Purchase Behavior from a U.S Perspective (소비자인지도화령수상사회책임(消费者认知度和零售商社会责任): 종미국시각출발적도덕구매행위적탐색성연구(从美国视角出发的道德购买行为的探索性研究))

  • Lee, Min-Young;Jackson, Vanessa P.
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.49-58
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    • 2010
  • Corporate social responsibility has become a very important issue for researchers (Greenfield, 2004; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; McWilliams et al., 2006; Pearce & Doh 2005), and many consider it necessary for businesses to define their role in society and apply social and ethical standards to their businesses (Lichtenstein et al., 2004). As a result, a significant number of retailers have adopted CSR as a strategic tool to promote their businesses. To this end, this study sought to discover U.S. consumers' attitudes and behavior in ethical purchasing and consumption based on their subjective perception and evaluation of a retailer. The objectives of this study include: 1) determine the participants awareness of retailers corporate social responsibility; 2) assess how participants evaluate retailers corporate social responsibility; 3) examine whether participants evaluation process of retailers CSR influence their attitude toward the retailer; and 4) assess if participants attitude toward the retailers CSR influence their purchase behavior. This study does not focus on actual retailers' CSR performance because a consumer's decision making process is based on an individual assessment not an actual fact. This study examines US college students' awareness and evaluations of retailers' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Fifty six college students at a major Southeastern university participated in the study. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 26 years old. Content analysis was conducted with open coding and focused coding. Over 100 single-spaced pages of written responses were collected and analyzed. Two steps of coding (i.e., open coding and focused coding) were conducted (Esterberg, 2002). Coding results and analytic memos were used to understand participants' awareness of CSR and their ethical purchasing behavior supported through the selection and inclusion of direct quotes that were extracted from the written responses. Names used here are pseudonyms to protect confidentiality of participants. Participants were asked to write about retailers, their aware-ness of CSR issues, and to evaluate a retailer's CSR performance. A majority (n = 28) of respondents indicated their awareness of CSR but have not felt the need to act on this issue. Few (n=8) indicated that they are aware of this issue but not greatly concerned. Findings suggest that when college students evaluate retailers' CSR performance, they use three dimensions of CSR: employee support, community support, and environmental support. Employee treatment and support were found as an important criterion in evaluation of retailers' CSR. Respondents indicated that their good experience with a retailer as an employee made them have a positive perception and attitude toward the retailer. Regarding employee support four themes emerged: employee rewards and incentives based on performance, working environment, employee education and training program, and employee and family discounts. Well organized rewards and incentives were mentioned as an important attribute. The factors related to the working environment included: how well retailers follow the rules related to working hours, lunch time and breaks was also one of the most mentioned attributes. Regarding community support, three themes emerged: contributing a percentage of sales to the local community, financial contribution to charity organizations, and events for community support. Regarding environments, two themes emerged: recycling and selling organic or green products. It was mentioned in the responses that retailers are trying to do what they can to be environmentally friendly. One respondent mentioned that the company is creating stores that have an environmentally friendly design. Information about what the company does to help the environment can easily be found on the company’s website as well. Respondents have also noticed that the stores are starting to offer products that are organic and environmentally friendly. A retailer was also mentioned by a respondent in this category in reference to how the company uses eco-friendly cups and how they are helping to rebuild homes in New Orleans. The respondents noticed that a retailer offers reusable bags for their consumers to purchase. One respondent stated that a retailer uses its products to help the environment, through offering organic cotton. After thorough analysis of responses, we found that a participant's evaluation of a retailers' CSR influenced their attitudes towards retailers. However, there was a significant gap between attitudes and purchasing behavior. Although the participants had positive attitudes toward retailers CSR, the lack of funds and time influenced their purchase behavior. Overall, half (n=28) of the respondents mentioned that CSR performance affects their purchasing decisions making when shopping. Findings from this study provide support for retailers to consider their corporate social responsibility when developing their image with the consumer. This study implied that consumers evaluate retailers based on employee, community and environmental support. The evaluation, attitude and purchase behavior of consumers seem to be intertwined. That is, evaluation is based on the knowledge the consumer has of the retailers CSR. That knowledge may influence their attitude toward the retailer and thus influence their purchase behavior. Participants also indicated that having CSR makes them think highly of the retailer, but it does not influence their purchase behavior. Price and convenience seem to surpass the importance of CSR among the participants. Implications, recommendations for future research, and limitations of the study are also discussed.

Analysis of Residual Triflumizole, an Imidazole Fungicide, in Apples, Pears and Cucumbers Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography

  • Khay, Sathya;EI-Aty, A.M. Abd;Choi, Jeong-Heui;Shim, Jae-Han
    • Toxicological Research
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.87-91
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    • 2008
  • The present study was conducted to monitor the level of triflumizole residues in fruits (apple and pear) and vegetable (cucumber) samples in order to assess risk posed by the presence of such residues to the consumer. Triflumizole was applied at a recommended dose rate to apple and pear pulps and to a cucumber sample. The samples were collected at harvesting time following several treatments (three and/or four treatments). Triflumizole was extracted with methanol and re-extracted into dichloromethane. The presence of triflumizole was determined by HPLC with UV detection at 238 nm following the cleanup of the extract by open preparative chromatographic column with Florisil. The versatility of this method was evidenced by its excellent linearity (> 0.999) in the concentration range between 0.2 and 4.0 mg/kg. The mean recoveries evaluated from the untreated samples spiked at two different fortification levels. 0.1 and 0.4 mg/kg, and ranged from 87.5${\pm}$0.0 to 93.3${\pm}$2.6 for the tested fruits and vegetable, respectively, and the repeatability (as relative standard deviation) from three repetitive determinations of recoveries were no larger than 6%. The calculated limit of detection was 0.02 mg/kg and the minimum detectable level of 4 ng for triflumizole was easily detected. When triflumizole was sprayed onto the apple trees three times at 50-40-30 and 40-30-21 days prior to harvesting and four times onto the pear trees at 40-30-21-14 days prior to harvesting, the mean residual amounts of 0.05 and 0.06 mg/kg for apples and pears, respectively, were not detected in all of the treatments. When the cucumber sample was fumigated four times at 7, 5, 3 and 1 day prior to harvesting, the mean residual amount was not detectable. Triflumizole can be used safely when sprayed (wettable powder, 30% active ingredient) and fumigated (10%) 4 times at 14 and 1 day prior to harvesting to protect the fruits and vegetable, respectively.