공정거래법과 온라인 플랫폼 산업규제의 인터페이스 - 미국 경쟁법 우선 원칙의 시사점을 중심으로

Competition law and sector-specific regulation share the common objective of ultimately achieving economic growth and development, but as their specific goals differ, it is crucial to design regulations with precision to minimise conflicts and ensure mutual complementarity during application and enforcement. The transition to the digital age is accelerating a return to sector-specific regulation. The Online Platform Regulation Act must seek harmonious solutions that maximise mutual objectives by meticulously designing interfaces with existing industrial regulations such as the Fair Trade Act and the Telecommunications Business Act. In the United States, the principle of competition law supremacy ensures that exemptions from antitrust law through sector-specific regulation are applied extremely strictly. FTC & DOJ actively promote competition to uphold competition principles. Given the unique characteristics of the online platform market, sector-specific regulation risks being confined to a narrow perspective, potentially leading to market failure due to regulation. Therefore, caution is warranted. When introducing online platform regulation, a sophisticated interface design between the Fair Trade Act and sector-specific regulations is essential. This should clearly delineate the scope of ex ante conduct regulation to supplement the ex post limitations of competition law. Such a systematic design must ensure both instruments can most efficiently achieve diverse objectives: fairness, innovation, and consumer welfare.