디지털 생태계 관련 경쟁법상 시장력과 시장획정

The market power in digital ecosystems has become an important topic in the area of competition law. In effect, the theme of the relevant market definition in two-sided platforms has been one of the critical issues in many jurisdictions over the last decade. In order to presume market dominance, it is essential to have an appropriate market definition by means of the SSNIP test, based on demand substitutability. However, when a platform provides free services to consumers, it is often difficult to implement this methodology for defining the relevant market. The EU legislature seems to consider this problem and eventually adopted the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which was founded on the theories of digital ecosystems. The designation of gatekeepers under the provisions of the DMA appears as a generalisation of the relevant market and the scope of regulation without understanding distinctive features of continuously evolving digital ecosystems. In particular, it is possible to apply the existing competition rules to platform cases, but the way to regulate various platforms’ conducts through the DMA may impede consumer welfare and efficiency. The Korea Fair Trade Commission recently announced its project of a new legislative law of “Platform Competition Promotion Act” whose contents are analogous to the DMA. Therefore, a study of digital ecosystems relating to market power and market definition will be necessary for a future legislative policy on platform competition in Korea.