Law: The Antimonopoly Act 1947 (Japan)

Japan’s competition authority has hit four former utilities with over €700 million in fines for illegally conspiring to suppress competition after the country’s electricity market was deregulated, in what is the agency’s largest fine for an antitrust violation.

30 March 2023

Featured in Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2023

The Japan Fair Trade Commission is aggressively targeting unfair trade practices, merger control, bid rigging and cartels as covid-19 loosens its grip. Regarding cartel enforcement, new leniency regimes and Japanese attorney-client privilege promise to profoundly affect the enforcer’s work in 2023 and beyond.

10 March 2023

Featured in Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2023

Navigating the Japan Fair Trade Commission, which regulates merger control throughout the country, is crucial for all parties contemplating M&A transactions in Japan.

10 March 2023

Featured in Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2023

Amid growth in Japan’s rate of private antitrust cases – specifically, damage suits and injunctions – there is a clear trend for judgments that dismiss plaintiffs’ damage claims due to parties’ agreements on the exclusive jurisdictions of foreign courts.

10 March 2023

Featured in Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2023

Updates to the Anti-monopoly Act have given the Japan Fair Trade Commission fresh powers to formally accept voluntary commitments suspected of having infringed the law. This landmark development is helping the commission to settle all cases investigating foreign entities’ competitive conduct.

10 March 2023

Featured in Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2023

The 2019 amendment to Japan’s Antimonopoly Act greatly influenced the country’s cartel regulation, significantly affecting its pre-existing Leniency Programme and introducing the Reduction System for Cooperation in Investigations.

10 March 2023

Japan’s antitrust authority has filed a criminal complaint to the country's public prosecutor against six companies and seven individuals that allegedly conspired to rig dozens of bids to advertise and plan test events for the recent Tokyo Summer Olympics.

28 February 2023

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has warned Apple and Google that they may be infringing the country’s antitrust laws through their alleged duopoly over mobile operating systems and urged both to change their behaviour to boost competition.

10 February 2023

Featured in Digital Markets Guide - Second Edition

In recent years, the Japanese government has been keen to scrutinise the digital markets from various perspectives to implement appropriate competition policy promptly and effectively to enhance competition and innovation in digital markets.

25 November 2022

Featured in Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2022

Recent amendments to Japanʼs Anti-Monopoly Act gave the Japan Fair Trade Commission powers to formally accept voluntary commitments from companies suspected of having infringed the law.

25 March 2022