공정거래법상 동의의결제도 관련 쟁점 및 개선방안 연구

As the modern society develops, the Korea’s competition law’s legal framework has constantly changed to suit the new administrative environments. In this sense, a general revision of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (MRFTA) was proposed to make the new market order fit for the economic environment and was passed by the Korean National Assembly in December 2020 nearly 40 years after the Act was initially introduced in April 1981. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)’s law enforcement regime is built upon the three pillars, administrative enforcement - e.g. imposing corrective orders and surcharge, criminal punishment, and private actions - e.g. damage suits. The MRFTA as the competition law that regulates companies’ business decisions, has thus far been enforced mainly by administrative sanctions. Meanwhile, the KFTC’s law enforcement means have been diversifying from conventional administrative actions into such alternatives as the introduction of the Consent Resolution in that the KFTC and enterprises under the KFTC’s investigation will mutually agree to close a case based on enterprise commitment to promote consumer damage redress and fair trade practices. The Consent Resolution enhances the benefits of consumers, enterprises, markets, and the KFTC in the same time, as it can help expedite consumer damage redress and promote fair trade practices. Since the introduction of the Consent Resolution, it has not been frequently applied, and thus there remain some issues to be addressed so that could maximize its benefits. It is needed to analyze the current status of the Consent Resolution which was designed with strict conditions to minimize the side effects, and consider some legislative measures to develop the system further. As the “procedural economy” is one of the fundamental purposes of the Consent Resolution, it could be critical to analyse the reasons for unreasonable procedural delays based on the experience thus far and seek for solutions. In conclusion, there needs to develop various means of enforcement to improve deterrence against violations and ensure rapid damage relief. In particular, in order to improve the enforcement framework, it is essential to strike a balance between the conventional administrative enforcement and ADR(Alternative Dispute Resolution), i.e. the Consent Resolution.