数字经济反垄断中消费者福利标准的反思与适用

Rethinking and Applying Consumer Welfare Standards in Antitrust of Digital Economy

数字经济背景下消费者福利损害范围的规模性和不特定性、损害方式的个性化、损害结果的难以计量性要求反垄断法介入保护,数字经济非价格因素和动态竞争的特征使得传统消费者福利标准适用失灵,而实践中消费者福利标准往往会成为案件分析中的修饰性表达,导致反垄断法规范目标偏移。数字经济高度集中化的趋势,要求消费者福利保护由重视经济效率向重视市场结构和竞争过程转变,反垄断法作为行为规制法对消费者福利进行保护,防止消费者福利庸俗化。为避免科技巨头经济垄断权力蔓延至政治中心,新布兰代斯学派反对以消费者福利作为唯一诉求,主张通过反垄断法分析范式转型保障消费者选择权,实现经济民主和反垄断法多元目标。消费者福利保护是反垄断法的间接目标,应被作为判断竞争损害的参考要素。对于数字经济反垄断中消费者选择权损害的分析,应遵循合理原则,综合权衡经营者行为的竞争损害效果和消费者福利增进效果。同时,从实体标准和程序制度层面细化和完善消费者福利标准在垄断协议、滥用市场支配地位和经营者集中行为规制中的具体适用。

The scalability and non-specificity of the scope of consumer welfare damage in the context of the digital economy,the personalization of the damage method,and the difficulty of measuring the damage result require the intervention of antitrust law to protect,the non-price factor and the dynamic competition characteristics of the digital economy make the application of consumer welfare standards out of order of machine,and the consumer welfare standard in practice often becomes the modified expression in the analysis of the case,which results in the deviation of the goal of the antitrust law regulation.The trend of highly centralized digital economy requires consumer welfare protection to shift from focusing on economic efficiency to focusing on market structure and competitive process,and antitrust law protects consumer welfare as a behavioral regulatory law to prevent the vulgarization of consumer welfare.In order to avoid the spread of the economic monopoly power of technology giants to the political center,the New Brandeis School opposes consumer welfare as the only requirement,and advocates the protection of consumers'right of choose through the transformation of the analytical paradigm of the antitrust law,so as to realize the goals of economic democracy and the plurality of antitrust laws.Consumer welfare protection is an reflexive goal of antitrust law and should be used as a reference element in judging competition harm.As for the analysis of the damage to consumers'right of choose in antitrust of digital economy,the principle of rationality should be followed,and the competitive damage effect of the undertakings'behavior should be weighed comprehensively against the consumer welfare enhancement effect.At the same time,the specific application of the consumer welfare standard in the regulation of monopolistic agreement,the abuse of dominant market position and the concentration of undertakings should be refined and perfected at the aspect of substantive standard and procedural system.