정보교환의 경제적 효과 및 규제기준

초록

Information sharing of prices, quantities, costs, inventories etc. among horizontal competitors fertilizes market competition and increases consumer surplus because it increases market transparency and decreases information cost. But at the same time, it increases the possibility of collusion, builds up entry barrier, and excludes competitors. In Korea, until now, information sharing among competitors has been considered only as a circumstantial evidence for implicit collusion when there exists coincidence of firms’ behaviors such as price or quantity. However in USA and EU, information sharing is considered as a anti-competitive behavior in itself and has been regulated. For the purpose of removing regulation uncertainty, USA and EU established guidelines on cooperation and/or collaborations among horizontal competitors. In Korea, horizontal competitors frequently exchange various information including intended future price, quantity and so on. But information exchange itself could not be regulated under Korean anti-competition law because there is no legal basis. But the information exchange that could effect individual firm’s independent decision for price/quantity and decrease consumer surplus is apparently anti-competitive. Under this reason, the legal basis should be established in Korean anti-competitive law, and specific guideline also should be made to remove regulation uncertainty. Thus this article briefly surveys related economic theories. It also introduces related laws/guidelines and cases of USA/EU. And then it presents reason and criteria for regulating information exchange among competitors.

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