數字平臺國際反壟斷監管衝突下區域貿易協定競爭政策條款之困

Dilemmas of Competition Policy Provisions in Regional Trade Agreement under the Conflicts of International Antitrust Regulation on Digital Platforms

近年來，數字平臺巨頭大舉進入各國市場，在全球範圍內展開競爭，引發了許多國家的反壟斷關注。同時，雖然各國開始積極主動協調反壟斷監管策略，但衝突始終存在。首先，各自不同的監管態度和路徑可能引發衝突；其次，發展中國家也會由於缺乏足夠執法資源和市場重要性而喪失其執法的有效性和威懾力；再次，由於“效果原則”的影響也會產生管轄權衝突。然而，作為競爭政策協調的主要途徑，區域貿易協定，無論是一般區域貿易協定中的競爭政策條款還是區域競爭協定，都僅呈現出較淺層的實體規則協調與執法合作。這些競爭政策條款或區域競爭協定未能結合數據要素、數字行業監管標準、監管科技這些與數字市場規制緊密相關的特性，難以有效地規制數字平臺巨頭的跨境反競爭行為。這些問題或許可以通過區域內國家深化競爭實體或執法合作條款，以及在數字貿易協定中制定數字競爭政策條款的方式得到緩解。

In recent years, digital platform giants have entered different national markets on a large scale, competing globally and sparking antitrust concerns in many countries. At the same time, although countries have begun to proactively commence antitrust regulation, conflicts still persist. Firstly, different regulatory attitudes and paths lead to conflicts; secondly, developing countries may lose their enforcement effectiveness and deterrence due to lacking adequate resources and market importance; Thirdly, jurisdictional conflicts may arise because of the influence of the“Effect Principle”. However, regional trade agreements, regardless of competition policy provisions in general RTAs or regional competition agreements, as the main vehicles for competition policy harmonisation, present only a shallow level of harmonisation of substantive rules and enforcement cooperation, possibly impelling firms to avoid regulation. These competition policy provisions or agreements also fail to incorporate data elements, regulatory standards for digital industry and RegTech, which are closely-related features for digital market regulation, so that it is hard to regulate cross-border anti-competitive conducts of digital giant platforms effectively. These problems could be mitigated by deepening substantial competition rules or enforcement cooperation provisions regionally, as well as by developing digital competition policy provisions in digital trade agreements.