Region: Japan

Japan’s competition watchdog has walked back a cease and desist order it imposed on a supermarket chain after the Tokyo High Court raised due process concerns about its decision to censure the company for abusing its superior bargaining position.

03 February 2021

Featured in The Settlements Guide - First Edition

Following EU competition law, two different procedures – settlement and commitment – have been considered in Japan (especially in recent law-making discussions among practitioners and academics) as administrative procedures to resolve competition concerns by voluntary agreement between the competition authority and enterprises under investigation. Currently, however, only commitment procedures are utilised in Japan.

02 February 2021

Cartel fines in Korea and Taiwan increased significantly in 2020 from the previous year, although they fell steeply in China, Japan, Australia and India, a report by Morgan Lewis & Bockius has revealed.

15 January 2021

Japan’s competition watchdog has imposed more than €34 million in fines on two major construction companies for conspiring to fix bids on tenders for the construction of a major magnetic levitation train line.

05 January 2021

Featured in GCR 100 2021

A mix of well-regarded domestic and international law firms make up the highly capable Japanese competition bar, which contends with an active enforcer that sits on the front lines of key issues regarding digital platforms and more.

11 December 2020

Japan’s competition watchdog has filed a criminal complaint against three drug wholesalers and seven of their employees for rigging bids for contracts to supply certain drugs ordered by a government-affiliated body.

09 December 2020

Japan’s competition watchdog has reportedly raided 14 computer suppliers and four drug wholesalers in separate bid-rigging investigations.

20 October 2020

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has dropped a probe into Amazon after the company promised to pay back nearly €16 million to approximately 1,400 suppliers who it forced to shoulder the costs of product discounts.

11 September 2020

Japan’s first-ever market study of common loyalty point programmes has found operators could be infringing abuse of dominance laws and foreclosing competitors.

16 June 2020

Japan’s antitrust watchdog has ordered contact lens maker CooperVision to allow its retailers to advertise prices and sell its contacts online, following a probe into alleged retail price maintenance.

05 June 2020