온라인 플랫폼에 대한 합리적 규제 방안

Under the modern concept of Rule of Law, governments were afforded with the power to intervene in markets by way of regulation in the name of public interests. When a regulation aims to control online platforms, which are of great dynamics by their very nature, it has to be first determined whether there are sufficient grounds that justify governments’ intervention and their methods. First, economic regulations designed to protect free competitions must be distinguished from non-economic regulations for other public purposes, because the former should be limited to where such regulations are required to rectify market inefficiencies and market failure. Second, economic regulations must be based on empirical and scientific markets researches, and thus, be free from the influences of regulators or interested groups. Third, it is desirable to consider a specific, tailored, and step-by-step approach for economic regulation, whereas a comprehensive ex-ante regulation can be accepted when the protection of fundamental rights is at stake or when irreparable harms are likely to occur. Lastly, designing innovation-friendly regulatory systems and flexibility of regulatory measures will enhance regulatory efficiencies and contribute to the achievement of successful regulatory outcomes. Under these criteria, the four proposed bills that aim to regulate online platforms, which are currently under controversies, appear to lack empirical and scientific grounds for regulation. Instead of regulating the entire realm of online platforms, it should be re-designed to precisely regulate the online platforms for which serious problems have been identified. It is often a good regulatory strategy to wait and see the market forces restore competitions or to apply self-regulation. In any case, any overlap must be avoided between the regulatory realm of the antitrust regulator (KFTC) and that of the sector-specific regulator in the telecommunication field (KCC) to prevent unnecessary regulatory burdens.