Competition Related Provisions (CRPs) of Bilateral Trade Agreements, Bilateral Competition Cooperation Agreements of Korea, and their Implications

As business becomes increasingly globalized, companies are exposed to more and more competition issues around the world, but they may also enter into 'global' anti-competitive arrangements. In opposition to these global anti-competitive arrangements, there is a growing need for cooperation among states to tackle them. In this regard, Korea's FTAs contain Competition-Related Provisions (CRPs), which define key terms and provide principles for bilateral cooperation, rules on the conduct of state-owned enterprises, cooperation in capacity building, etc. At the same time, Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) and other competition enforcement agencies have signed bilateral competition cooperation agreements (BCCAs) or Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to provide the details of bilateral cooperation of competition law enforcement activities. Currently, BCCAs/MOUs may be more relevant to the daily competition law enforcement as they function as lex specialis providing details of bilateral competition cooperation. In addition, reviewing Korea's FTA and BCCA/MOU drafting history may provide developing countries models for drafting such agreements, based on Korea's experience in negotiating those types of agreement with both developed and developing countries.