Earlier today, January 11, 2023, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (the “KFTC”) held a full committee hearing and officially adopted the Guidelines for Review of Abuse of Dominance by Online Platform Operators (the “Guidelines”). This comes one year after the KFTC announced the initial draft of the Guidelines for public comment on January 6, 2022.
The Guidelines went through major changes from the initial draft that was released a year ago. Among these, the following are some of the key differences:
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The KFTC narrowed the scope of the Guidelines to only apply to abuse of dominance by online platform operators;
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The Guidelines stipulate the factors that will be considered when determining whether an online platform operator has a market dominant position and whether there are anticompetitive effects;
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The Guidelines also make clear that anticompetitive effects must be balanced against efficiency-enhancing effects, and reinforces the considerations for assessing efficiency-enhancing effects.
As the Guidelines takes effect, the KFTC will utilize the Guidelines to assess potential abuses of dominance by online platform operators. Accordingly, online platform service providers are advised to become familiar with the details of the Guidelines and closely monitor how the KFTC applies the Guidelines in its future enforcement efforts. Key details of the final draft of the Online Platform Review Guidelines will be outlined in a follow-up newsletter.
