Adapting European Competition Law Proposals for the Digital Market to the Korean Regime

The development of the digital economy has caused notable socio-economic issues involving complex problems, and online platforms lie at the centre of hot discussions. In effect, competition law has been considered as an important tool for resolving the socio-economic problems due to the concentrated digital market. Recently, facing the difficulties of applying competition law in digital cases, the European Commission has provided several proposals for new regulations. Similarly, the Korea Fair Trade Commission announced its plan to establish a new legal framework for the sector of online platforms. Overall, this indicates a worldwide trend towards designing a new legal measure for the digital economy. In particular, the current proposals of the EU’s Digital Services Act and New Competition Tool indicate the EU’s formalistic approaches. Moreover, the contents of the proposals can create a significant discretion as the agency can impose divestiture remedies without finding an infringement of competition rules. This article aims at discussing the recent development of the EU’s proposals for the digital competition law, thereby providing possible suggestions for the Korean competition regime. This article carefully examines the pros and cons of the proposals and comes up with suggestions for Korea.