After much political as well as social argument, two regulation acts on so-called Super Super Market (SSM) which restrict indiscriminate opening, expansion and operation of the SSM to protect traditional small retail trade areas and small petty merchants were finally revised at the end of the last year. However, these recently revised acts have still been controversial because of the increased regulations on the SSM as stipulated by them. The amended “SSM Regulation Acts” introduced a new zoning system for Preservation Districts of Traditional Markets where the SSM opening and expansion may be restricted and extended the application of the Business Adjustment System (BAS) to the SSM-franchises. This is the reason why there has been a considerable controversy about whether the recent changes to the legislation would discriminately limit market access of foreign service industries, as anti-free trade measures and excessive new restrictions on the SSM.
As mentioned above, the matter of increasing SSM restrictions has caused the controversial issue whether it violates the ?General Agreement on Trade in Services? (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the context of international trade law. In particular, the newly introduced zoning system and extension of the application of the BSA have been the most controversial issues because the revised acts’ opponents have raised the problem of their potential violation of international trade law and principle such as GATS. They have argued that recently revised acts and tightened SSM restrictions, as barriers to service trade, not only would discriminately hinder further foreign investment by maintaining and introducing a number of constraints but also are incompatible with relevant GATS provisions and Korea’s GATS commitments in retail sector, and that future trade conflict or dispute with foreign countries is anticipated. In this respect the legally detailed and careful examination should be done concerning whether the recent changes to the SSM restrictions violate relevant international trade law and principle, particularly the GATS.
Based on this recognition, this paper, starting with the general review of the principal changes to the SSM restrictions of the recently revised “SSM Regulation Acts” and critical issues relating to the allegedly potential violation of the GATS, reviewed whether the tightened and newly introduced SSM restrictions are against the GATS rules. The author, through this discussion, expects this paper can contribute to develop proportional legal argument for probable future trade dispute with foreign countries as well as secure legitimacy for the SSM restrictions.