유통법의 의의와 지도원리 = The Concept of Distribution Law and Its Guiding Principles

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The distribution law has had a profound impact on businesses, the national economy and our daily lives. Yet it has still not been even conceptualized and faces a long road ahead in resolving social conflicts and clashes in the distribution industry. That said, this paper seeks to present and explore a new, albeit preliminary, viewpoint on the distribution law: the concept of distribution and the scope and meaning of the distribution law will be revisited, and the guiding principles of the distribution law will need to be established in consideration of the industrial ecosystem. After achieving political democracy, the Korean society put “economic democratization” on its top agenda to eradicate deep-rooted evils brought on by intensive economic growth. Although it has led to considerable achievement in containing the greed and misbehavior of large-scale businesses, it also caused reckless abuse of concepts like coexistence or shared growth. Some of the consequences of this have been the deviation of Korean distribution laws from the global standard and deterioration in the benefits provided to the consumers. Such chaos is a growing pain that Korea may have to suffer in the course of transition to an advanced economy. Under these circumstances, the guiding principles of the distribution law should be properly established without delay to help put an end to the chaos. Such principles should espouse the freedom of contract, prevention of unfair business practices and protection of competition, just like those under the pertinent legislation of advanced nations. At the same time, “ideas of cooperation” such as coexistence or shared growth should be made complementary to the fundamental framework resting on these principles. This would incentivize all players in the distribution industry to concentrate their focus and efforts on consumer choice, help prevent small-sized players’ overdependence on regulations and impede large players’ greed. In short, the distribution law must remain steadfast in its discernment and conviction to make the players “compete for something worth competition” and “cooperate in something worth cooperation.”