24th Mock Fair Trade Commission Competition Closes: Record 43 Teams Compete, Hanyang University Law School Wins Grand Prize

Grand Prize Awarded to Hanyang University Law School Team
Addressed Issues Such as the Merger of Simple Payment and Virtual Asset Exchange Platforms

Key global issues faced by competition authorities—including cross-sector integration of digital financial platforms, preferential treatment for in-house fulfillment by open markets, and collusion using generative AI-based rental algorithms—were extensively addressed at university (graduate) student mock courtrooms.

The Hanyang University Law School team won the grand prize at the 24th University (Graduate) Student Mock Fair Trade Commission Competition. Fair Trade Commission.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 19th that the Hanyang University Law School team won the grand prize at the 24th University (Graduate) Student Mock Fair Trade Commission Competition, which was held at The Riverside Hotel in Seoul on August 12-13.

This year marked the 24th edition of the competition, which saw a record 43 teams participate in the preliminary rounds. After intense written screenings, 20 teams advanced to the finals, where they structured virtual fair trade cases and engaged in rigorous legal debates, dividing into examiner and respondent (corporate) sides, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of an actual full commission meeting.

Joo Byunggi, Chairperson of the Fair Trade Commission, stated in the opening address, "Establishing a mature market system is crucial for resolving structural problems facing our economy and achieving sustainable growth," emphasizing, "The participants' commitment to fair market design and their professional focus on competition policy underscores the significance of their mission."

The combined Seoul National University and Korea University Law School team, which won the grand prize at the 24th University (Graduate) Student Mock Fair Trade Commission Competition. Fair Trade Commission.

The Hanyang University Law School team, which took the grand prize, addressed the merger between the leading simple payment platform in Korea, with 30 million users, and the nation's number one virtual asset exchange, which processes yearly transactions worth 833 trillion won through a comprehensive stock swap. The examiners pointed out that the integration of the two companies' data and unified membership would create a strong lock-in effect, and the exclusive control of the "KRW stablecoin" infrastructure—spanning issuance, circulation, and payments—by a single company could block potential competition. In contrast, the respondent side argued that the virtual asset market is a limitless, borderless competitive market, and such a merger is an act of innovation that counteracts large global capital and increases consumer welfare. The panel of judges highlighted the team's in-depth analysis of the ripple effects that the merger of heterogeneous major platforms could have on adjacent market competition and the potential for increased entry barriers.

The excellence awards went to two teams that targeted "self-preferencing" and "algorithmic collusion," which have become hot issues in the real economy. The joint team from Seoul National University and Korea University law schools (excellence award) focused on a case where an open market operator, after obtaining logistics data from a partner fulfillment company and launching its own delivery business, provided preferential benefits—such as higher search rankings and rewards points—exclusively to sellers using its in-house logistics, thereby transferring its market dominance.

The Yonsei University Law School team won the grand prize at the 24th University (Graduate) Student Mock Fair Trade Commission Competition. Fair Trade Commission.

The Yonsei University Law School team (excellence award) addressed a case in the corporate private rental housing market, where five major lessors used the same rental management ERP system's "AI price recommendation algorithm" to uniformly raise rental prices. They gained acclaim for identifying the structure, in which undisclosed contract information was collected to propose and enforce recommended rents, as a restrictive information exchange agreement that limited competition.

Choi Younggeun, former head of the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency and chief judge of the competition, summarized, "The participants did an excellent job of examining the complex issues of new industries in line with the principles of the legal system, based on a solid understanding of the basic concepts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.