[현장에서]The platform industry is bruised by a dispute over the jurisdiction of the FTC

[세종=이데일리 김상윤 기자] “Which department is in charge of online platform regulation?”

Online platform companies are in confusion. The competition between the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Communications Commission over the regulation of the Online Platform Act begins.

A platform company official said, “The Fair Trade Commission Act on Platform Brokerage Transactions (Online Platform Act), which was announced as a legislative notice, was preparing in advance in anticipation of passing this year. Suddenly, the Korea Communications Commission makes a similar law, which is confused.” Conveyed the atmosphere.

The online platform law is the’prevention law’, which was announced by the FTC in September. The key point is the regulation on platform brokerage transactions, which are the blind spots of the Affiliate Act, the Large Distribution Business Act, and the Agency Act.

Unfair trade practices targeting open markets such as Coupang and Gmarket, as well as portals that provide’search advertising services’ such as the people of delivery (food delivery), Yanolja (stay), Kakao Taxi (car rides), and Naver Kakao Google. Is to watch. It is a bill that is an extension of the existing ‘3 Act on Gapjil Prevention’.

However, the Korea Communications Commission countered that there was a concern about overlapping regulations with the telecommunications business, which is a law under its jurisdiction, and argues that it also conflicts with the Online Platform Act User Protection Act (Jeon Hye-sook and Democratic Party lawmaker bill) initiated in December. On December 16, last year, Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki and Minister of Strategy and Finance held a meeting of related ministers (green room meeting) and tried to arrange for the Fair Trade Commission to promote the online platform law as it was, but it was fuzzy as Chairman Han Sang-hyuk strongly opposed it.

The Fair Trade Commission has been working to regulate market unfair behavior and create a flat playground. Even if there is unfair behavior after the fact, if there is no restriction on competition, sanctions are not imposed. On the other hand, the Korea Communications Commission, which holds licenses and licenses for business operators, is actively using pre-regulation. The Korea Communications Commission has been regulating mainly telecommunications operators, and the regulation of value-added telecommunications operators has also been approached only from the perspective of consumer protection. It is different from the fact that the FTC online platform method is aimed at solving the problem of business-to-business (B2B) problems. Nevertheless, it is difficult to understand that the Korea Communications Commission came up with a frame of “duplicate regulation”.

The platform is a future growth industry, and on the one hand, it is an industry that is highly concerned about monopoly. If the’tweezers’ regulation is not precisely regulated, it may hinder growth. I am concerned about the reality that platform industry regulations are flowing into jurisdiction disputes between ministries.