Region: Japan

Apple and Google should be prohibited from forcing consumers to use their native billing systems and also allow application downloads on their smartphones from alternative distribution channels, the Japanese government has said following a detailed review of the market.

21 June 2023

Senior officials at competition authorities in Korea, Japan and Singapore have said they are struggling to hire data scientists and economists to assist with their work in online markets, although the latter enforcer still plans to set up a new digital unit in the coming months.

08 June 2023

Japan’s competition authority has raided a healthcare technology company over concerns it forced payment providers to sell its software if they wanted to connect with its platform.

25 May 2023

Significant hope exists in Japan among the public, politicians and business community that competition policy can be a “large part of the solution” to the country’s socioeconomic problems, a commissioner at its antitrust agency has said.

31 March 2023

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

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has accused Japan of “turning a blind eye” to Sony’s “blatantly anticompetitive conduct”, in breach of a trade agreement’s commitment to provide non-discriminatory treatment to US digital products.

29 March 2023

Japan’s competition watchdog has fined five pharmaceutical wholesalers a combined €4.5 million for rigging bids to supply drugs to the country’s largest hospital administrator.

27 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