가맹사업법상 구입강제 행위에 관한 법적 고찰과 거래상 갈등 개선 방향

Abstract

The essence of franchise starts from win-win cooperation between franchiser and franchisee. However, if a trade relationship that needs to coexist is for one party's interests only, it will be an unfair trade relationship. In particular, in a franchise business transaction in which a vertical transaction is a vertical transaction type, the deviation of the franchiser will be directly connected to the loss of the merchant business. Among them, the problem caused by the abuse of status in the transaction such as restricting the franchised business operators to purchase the industrial products which are not related to the franchised business through the franchise contract, etc. has recently become a social issue. The franchise business should be based on the unity and standardization of the brand's reputation, the operation of the franchise store, and the products and services provided to consumers according to the business content of the franchiser. However, even items that are essentially handled according to the purpose of the franchised business are considered to be unfair trade using the superior status of the franchiser. Of course, the franchiser should be regulated against the illegal purchase compulsory activities, but it would be difficult for the franchise business to operate normally if it is restricted to the stigma that illegal acts to achieve the purpose of the franchise business are illegal. In this paper, we reviewed the relevant laws and the cases of each country regarding the range of reasonable purchase demands of items for which franchiser enforces or handles franchisees. In order to reduce the conflict with merchants, we proposed alternatives such as sharing performance profits, purchasing cooperatives, and royalty.As of 2018, the franchise industry in Korea accounted for 6.9% of the nominal GDP (1,730 trillion won) and 4.5% of the 27.75 million economically active population (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, 2019). It occupies a lot of weight in our domestic economy. Therefore, the franchise industry should be further developed in the future to be the driving force for the revitalization of Korea's economic stagnation. For the continuous development as a pivotal industry in these countries, understanding and cooperation between trading partners should be accompanied to maximize the net functional aspect of franchise business and minimize side effects.