경쟁법상 디지털 생태계 관련 수직거래 제한

As digitisation has rapidly developed around the globe, we have seen diverse views on competitive harms in the field of digital ecosystems. This topic has become one of the critical topics relating to competitive analyses, which involves market power of platforms and appraisal standards of their competitive effects. In particular, a gatekeeper’s control of participants in its digital ecosystem can be considered as an anti-competitive conduct, but it is difficult to conclude whether its conduct infringes competition rules. Accordingly, this article provides suggestions for some trade-off tests in the implementation of competition law, as follows. First, if it is necessary to examine competitive effects of intra-ecosystem competition from a short-term perspective, we need to examine conflicts between participants in an ecosystem and their competition with rivals in other ecosystems. In contrast, if it is essential to examine coordination between entities within an ecosystem to improve inter-ecosystem competition from a long-term perspective, we need to consider an assessment of competition for the welfare of end users. Second, it is necessary to assess competitive effects of gatekeepers’ conducts by examining both inter-ecosystem competition and intra-ecosystem competition. Most of all, a competition authority should focus on competition between gatekeepers that control their own ecosystems. If a restraint on intra-ecosystem can improve inter-ecosystem competition, the competition authority should take into account the balance between two types of competition.