June 21, 2023
Japan Fair Trade Commission
(The Annual Report of the Japan Fair Trade Commission Annual Report for FY 2022)
Today, I am going to talk about the Annual Report of the Japan Fair Trade Commission for FY 2022.
On June 16, we submitted the Annual Report of the JFTC for FY 2022 to the Diet. In this annual report, we report to the Diet every year, in accordance with the provisions of the Antimonopoly Act, the status of its activities, including the implementation of the Antimonopoly Act in the previous fiscal year.
In FY 2022, the Japan Fair Trade Commission released a statement entitled "Towards the Active Promotion of Competition Policy in response to Socioeconomic Changes as represented by Digitalization -Coordination and Strengthening of Advocacy and Enforcement- " in which the JFTC declared that it would work more vigorously to ensure strict and appropriate enforcement of laws and regulations under its jurisdiction, namely enforcement, and advocacy, which advocates improvement of trading practices and revision of regulations and systems, as two wheels of a cart, and would strengthen its response to socioeconomic changes, such as advances in digitalization. As you look at the Annual Report, you will see that the Japan Fair Trade Commission has taken measures to promote fair and free competition in a variety of areas, in light of the statement I mentioned before.
For example, from the perspective of "enforcement," we dealt strictly and aggressively with cases such as bid-rigging for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 and cartels between the former general electricity utilities.
From the perspective of "advocacy," we worked to prevent violations of the Antimonopoly Act and to implement measures for the voluntary improvement of business practices by related parties, including by presenting views on the Antimonopoly Act and competition policy through the formulation of so-called Green Guidelines and fact-finding surveys in various areas such as cloud services, mobile operating systems, and mobile phone terminals.
In addition, based on “The Action Plan to Promote Fairness in Business Transactions by Small and Medium Enterprises”, we made public the names of business partners that were identified as deferring transaction prices to a large number of business partners without consultation, and sent written requests to related business associations to facilitate smooth price pass-through.
We will continue to address a variety of issues to further promote fair and free competition while taking into account the changing socioeconomic environment.
(Public Call for Campaign Slogans for "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions")
Next, I will explain the public call for campaign slogans for "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions".
In order to prevent violations, the Japan Fair Trade Commission is expanding and strengthening its activities for raising awareness to prevent undue influence on small and medium-sized enterprises.
As part of its activities for raising awareness, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, designates November of every year as "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions", and conducts intensive activities for raising awareness of the Subcontract Act.
Every year, for the purpose of effectively publicizing the efforts made during "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions", the Japan Fair Trade Commission decides a theme and publicly solicits campaign slogans. This year, the theme was "proactive price consultation from the ordering enterprises."
Applications have already been started, and the period of the solicitation is from June 7 to July 7. We look forward to your application.
（Tentative translation）
Today, I am going to talk about the Annual Report of the Japan Fair Trade Commission for FY 2022.
On June 16, we submitted the Annual Report of the JFTC for FY 2022 to the Diet. In this annual report, we report to the Diet every year, in accordance with the provisions of the Antimonopoly Act, the status of its activities, including the implementation of the Antimonopoly Act in the previous fiscal year.
In FY 2022, the Japan Fair Trade Commission released a statement entitled "Towards the Active Promotion of Competition Policy in response to Socioeconomic Changes as represented by Digitalization -Coordination and Strengthening of Advocacy and Enforcement- " in which the JFTC declared that it would work more vigorously to ensure strict and appropriate enforcement of laws and regulations under its jurisdiction, namely enforcement, and advocacy, which advocates improvement of trading practices and revision of regulations and systems, as two wheels of a cart, and would strengthen its response to socioeconomic changes, such as advances in digitalization. As you look at the Annual Report, you will see that the Japan Fair Trade Commission has taken measures to promote fair and free competition in a variety of areas, in light of the statement I mentioned before.
For example, from the perspective of "enforcement," we dealt strictly and aggressively with cases such as bid-rigging for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 and cartels between the former general electricity utilities.
From the perspective of "advocacy," we worked to prevent violations of the Antimonopoly Act and to implement measures for the voluntary improvement of business practices by related parties, including by presenting views on the Antimonopoly Act and competition policy through the formulation of so-called Green Guidelines and fact-finding surveys in various areas such as cloud services, mobile operating systems, and mobile phone terminals.
In addition, based on “The Action Plan to Promote Fairness in Business Transactions by Small and Medium Enterprises”, we made public the names of business partners that were identified as deferring transaction prices to a large number of business partners without consultation, and sent written requests to related business associations to facilitate smooth price pass-through.
We will continue to address a variety of issues to further promote fair and free competition while taking into account the changing socioeconomic environment.
(Public Call for Campaign Slogans for "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions")
Next, I will explain the public call for campaign slogans for "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions".
In order to prevent violations, the Japan Fair Trade Commission is expanding and strengthening its activities for raising awareness to prevent undue influence on small and medium-sized enterprises.
As part of its activities for raising awareness, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, designates November of every year as "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions", and conducts intensive activities for raising awareness of the Subcontract Act.
Every year, for the purpose of effectively publicizing the efforts made during "Promotion Month for Fair Subcontract Transactions", the Japan Fair Trade Commission decides a theme and publicly solicits campaign slogans. This year, the theme was "proactive price consultation from the ordering enterprises."
Applications have already been started, and the period of the solicitation is from June 7 to July 7. We look forward to your application.
（Tentative translation）
