Region: Japan

Featured in GCR 100 2022

In Japan, a mix of local and international firms work opposite a highly respected competition enforcer, which has adopted a sharpened focus on digital marketplaces.

10 December 2021

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is set to close an investigation into homegrown e-commerce platform Rakuten Group after it committed not to discriminate against merchants that refuse to join its free shipping programme.

07 December 2021

A report published by antitrust chiefs from the G7 nations and four guest countries has highlighted the historic global underenforcement of digital mergers and the importance of understanding new technologies to combat harm to competition earlier.

29 November 2021

Featured in Private Litigation Guide - Third Edition

In recent years, Japan's level of private antitrust litigation activity has increased, along with the number of cases in which claimants have successfully sought injunctive relief and damages.

22 November 2021

News in brief from the Asia-Pacific region… Japan’s competition authority is reportedly gearing up to fine 20 printing companies for bid-rigging, while Korea’s antitrust agency has fined a lens retailer for resale price maintenance. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Competition Commission has issued a policy note outlining when it will accept commitments to resolve competition concerns.

12 November 2021

A commissioner at Japan’s competition authority has said she is worried that plans by competition agencies around the world to impose more regulations on digital platforms could lead to a stifling of innovation.

14 September 2021

Japan’s antitrust watchdog has closed an investigation into Apple after the iPhone maker agreed to permit applications like Spotify, Netflix and Hulu to include an in-app link to allow users to make payments through a developer’s website.

02 September 2021

News in brief from the Asia-Pacific region… As each week goes by, there are near constant developments in China’s “Big Tech Crackdown”, which has touched nearly every major technology company in the country. China’s competition watchdog has kept Tencent in its sights for some time, but recently took its most significant decision against the homegrown technology company – blocking outright a planned merger.

15 July 2021

A Tokyo court has fined two of Japan’s “big four” construction companies €3.9 million for rigging bids to construct a major magnetic levitation train line, while sentencing a former executive from each company to 18 months of probation.

01 March 2021

The internal tribunal at Japan’s competition authority has largely upheld two decisions the agency issued in 2014 to penalise cartels in the markets for cardboard products.

15 February 2021