Amid recent changes in economic and technological landscapes, there is a growing effort to shape competition policies with a focus on national competitiveness and innovation-driven growth, particularly among advanced countries. In line with this trend, new approaches to competition policy and initiatives aimed at promoting a more business-friendly enforcement of competition law have been proposed. At the same time, efforts are underway to enhance existing systems to prevent potential risks associated with emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence. 

Against this backdrop, it is timely to take a closer look at the significant environmental changes facing various competition authorities and to review their approaches in response. From this perspective, Session 1 will explore a wide range of topics, focusing on the role and emerging challenge of competition authorities in national economies, the coordination and alignment of between competition policy and industry policy, and anticipated changes in the policy environment along with relevant initiatives.  

Data is an essential element for businesses to gain a competitive advantage in digital markets. It is utilized in various ways, including improving service quality, expanding user bases, and creating new business opportunities. On the positive side, such data utilization can increase market efficiency and consumer welfare on the bright side, but competition concerns have been raised, as it may lead to higher entry barriers and the abuse of market dominance. Additionally, there is a growing call to review personal information protection and relevant security measures from the perspectives of competition law and consumer policy. 

Session 2 will review data-related competition and consumer issues and share opinions with relevant examples. These will include the need to regulate data-related violations in competition law, particularly in relation to data abuse and monopolization, along with such violation cases; legislative and enforcement efforts to secure data portability and interoperability; and the ideal way to collaborate and coordinate between competition authorities and data protection authorities.

The digital economy has rapidly grown, driven by Covid-19 among other factors, and e-commerce and over-the-top (OTT) services have now become the norm in everyday lives of the public. Such rapid growth, however, also raises concerns about increasing anticompetitive practices and consumer harm. In the e-commerce industry, various issues have emerged, such as monopolistic platforms’ unfair practices against vendors and fake reviews, to name a few. In the OTT industry, which represents the subscription economy, increasing attention is being paid to unfair practices and consumer harm associated with the lock-in effect and dark patterns. 

Given that these two digital industries are now well-established, Session 3 will review anticompetitive practices and potential harm to consumer welfare within them, and discuss enforcement examples and regulatory models across competition authorities.