공정거래법상 거래금액기반 기업결합 신고기준 도입의 의미

Article 11 (2) of the revised Korea Antimonopoly and Fair Trade Act, which takes effect from December 30, 2021, introduced the thresholds based notification standards for merger control as follows. ① The total amount of the value paid or invested in return for a merger must be equal to or greater than the amount prescribed by Presidential Decree. ② The merged company shall operate at a considerable level as prescribed by Presidential Decree in Korea. According to the revised law, even if other companies' assets or sales fall short of KRW 30 billion, the amount of transactions is more than a certain standard, and if they operate at a significant level in the domestic market, they will be obliged to notify. German Competition Act (GWB) and the Austrian Cartel and Competition Law Amendment Act 2017 (KaWeRÄG) introduced a system based on the consideration of the opposing payments paid for merger to reduce defects in the regulation. Section 35 (1a) GWB and Section 9 (4) of the Austrian Cartel Act 2005 (KartG) close a gap in the system of merger control so that it is able to perform its function to the fullest extent in an increasingly dynamic economic environment. The practical problem with the introduction of the transaction amount-based merger notification standard under the Korea Antimonopoly and Fair Trade Act is how much the transaction amount, which is the notification standard, will be set. In this paper, the implications of the introduction of the transaction amount-based merger notification system in Korea will be examined.