A Comparative Study of Abuse of Market Dominance in EU and French Competition Laws and Legislative Suggestions on Korean Competition Law

This article has the objective of making a study of the theory and the practice on abuse of market dominance in EU and French Competition Laws, which will play an important role in developing Korean Competition Law. This article also aims at studying new legislative proposal that will be introduced into Korean Competition Law. By and large, this article is composed of three parts and conclusion. First of all, the legal framework of Article 102 TFEU and relevant case law, together with the analysis of relationship between Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, are sufficiently examined. Secondly, the relationship between Article L.420-2 and L.420-1 French Commercial Code, not to mention the legal system of the Article L.420-2 French Commercial Code, is carefully studied. In addition, a comparative study is made as to EU and French Competition Laws in this field. In the course of this studying, we can find that French Competition Law has come nearer to EU Competition Law in the field of abuse of market dominance that German Competition Law which had influence on Korean relevant law. In this part, we also realize that the legal frameworks of EU and French Competition Laws have been established on the basis of the theory that the regulation of abuse of dominance is premised on the regulation of cartel. In my opinion, these legal frameworks are worthy of being introduced into Korean Competition Law. Lastly, we propose legislative suggestions which can have influence on Korean Competition Law. In this part, we emphasize the introduction of the concept of collective dominance which has been established in both EU case law and French case law. For the purpose of attaining such an objective, above-mentioned case laws which are showing some criteria should be researched into by many Korean legal scholars. In conclusion, we put forth some opinions on the future prospect of abuse of market dominance in Korean Competition Law. In this regard, we protest that three important issues are bound to rise.