경쟁조화적인 규제 입법을 위한 경쟁정책적 방향에 관한 연구 - 지방자치단체 영역을 중심으로 -

The purpose of this study is to normatively analyze the meaning of competition in the regulatory field of local governments and to seek improvement measures to minimize regulations that restrict competition in advance. The essential element of the local government system is autonomous legislative power. Through this, local governments pursue policy goals such as regional economic activation and fostering small and medium-sized enterprises, and the establishment of laws for this purpose can be justified. However, the legitimacy of these policy goals does not guarantee consistency with competition. Contrary to the legislator's intention, regulatory measures may undermine the competitive order, resulting in negative effects that outweigh the benefits sought through regulation. With this problem in mind, the important points that this article seeks to emphasize can be summarized in the following three points. First, although legislators enjoy the freedom of legislative formation when they want to form regulations, it is important to select a competition-neutral regulatory means in consideration of the harmony between the market economic order and fundamental rights values that are connected in many ways. From a market perspective, if legislators establish or strengthen regulations while ignoring the rationality of competition, the function of competition may be distorted, resulting in anti-competitive effects such as price increases and innovation inhibition. It should be noted that in this case, it may be difficult to achieve the goal of introducing regulations. Second, interpreting the various meanings of competition for competitive harmonious regulatory legislation is very significant in enhancing the effectiveness of competition advocacy by the Korea Fair Trade Commission. Furthermore, the regulatory area of local governments does not only take an exclusive and authoritarian regulatory form, but sometimes takes a cooperative and horizontal regulatory form. In other words, it does not only restrict competition to achieve policy goals, but also utilizes the dynamics of competition. However, it should always be kept in mind that in the latter case, the idea that local governments and private economic entities (undertakings) cooperate to realize the common good through competition is more fundamental. Third, it is urgent to find institutional and practical improvement measures to minimize regulations that restrict competition in the local government area in advance. The prior statutory consultation system and the competition impact assessment system that realize competition advocacy have certain limitations in preventing competition restrictions. In order to resolve institutional deficiencies, this article proposes the introduction of a ‘request for opinions system’ on competition restrictions as part of the Fair Trade Commission’s participation in the regulatory drafting process. Furthermore, it emphasizes the establishment of ‘cooperative competition policy governance’ as a practical improvement measure. Here, in order for such governance to function effectively, it is necessary to secure transparency and respect each agency’s policy emphasis based on mutual recognition.