Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

The aim of the MRFTA is to stimulate the creative initiative of undertakings, to protect consumers, and to work for the balanced development of the national economy by promoting fair and free competition by preventing abuse of market dominance and excessive concentration of economic power by undertakings and by regulating improper concerted practices and unfair trade practices. In particular:
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Scope

The competition process in South Korea is controlled by the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (MRFTA) enacted in 1980. The MRFTA has been amended and remodeled by different reforms during 30 years. New amendments were included in the Act in 2013 and most recently in 2020 and 2021. A bill pending in Parliament is also expected to bring long-awaited changes in Korean competition law enforcement, by removing the Korean Fair Trade Commission's exclusive right to refer criminal cases to the Prosecutor's Office.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission is committed to fighting against abusive practices of digital platforms (e.g. self-preferencing). The authority has expanded its remit to fight against state of economic dependance in the digital and tech sectors. 

The National Assembly, South Korea's national legislative body passed a bill  dubbed the "anti-Google law. Its aim was to make it illegal for app store operators such as Google and Apple to force developers to use their own in-app purchase systems.

This legislation was introduced by amending the Korean Telecommunications Act by adding Article 50(1)(9), which prohibits app store operators from “unfairly using their bargaining position” to force providers of apps distributed through their app stores to use specific payment systems for transactions made in their apps.

On December 30, 2021, a revised version of the Korean Competition Act finally came into effect. These changes are remarkable as they include several substantial revisions, such as clarification of the concept of information exchange, introduction of the injunction system for unfair business practices and the transaction value threshold in merger control, as well as some technical changes in the wording and numbering of articles.

On July 6, 2022, a cross-divisional organization called the Platform Policy Council was created to set agendas and assist in the self-regulatory activities of a private organization. stakeholders and law enforcement officials are and will continue to discuss a variety of concerns and solutions related to digital market issues, such as power asymmetry between platform operators and users, concerns about unfair business practices.

In particular, the KFTC has begun to focus on the adoption of the draft guidelines for the review of platform-related practices (the "Platform Guidelines"). The Draft Platform Guidelines explicitly mention the importance of control power and competitive bottlenecks in which multilateral platforms may enjoy substantial power over business users who need and tend to use multihoming.

In addition, according to a statement from the KFTC chairman, the authority is currently considering revising merger and acquisition review guidelines “to prevent reckless expansion of businesses through platform mergers,” targeting “killer acquisitions” in digital sectors (no mention of healthcare sectors). 

Context

The aim of the MRFTA is to stimulate the creative initiative of undertakings, to protect consumers, and to work for the balanced development of the national economy by promoting fair and free competition by preventing abuse of market dominance and excessive concentration of economic power by undertakings and by regulating improper concerted practices and unfair trade practices. In particular:

- Article 1 of the MRFTA generally prohibits any agreements between competitors that unreasonably restrict competition.

- Article 26 of the MRFTA prohibits the same restrictive activities where they are committed by business associations.

- Articles 3 et seq. prohibits monopolies and abuse of market power.

Restrictive practices that are legitimate under any industry-specific law as set forth in Article 58 of the MRFTA or considered to be a reasonable exercise of intellectual property rights (Article 59) are excluded from the scope of the prohibition.

Finally, the MRFTA applies to any act even if performed outside of South Korea where it affects the domestic market (Article 2-2).

Global Competition Law

1275. Scope

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Les notions juridiques connexes

1275. Scope

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Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise