July 3, 2024
Japan Fair Trade Commission
(OECD Competition Committee June 2024 Meeting)
Today, I would like to introduce the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Competition Committee June 2024 meeting. It was held in Paris, France, from June 10th to 14th. Commissioner Aoki, Ms. Tanaka, Deputy Secretary General for International Affairs, and another staff member of the JFTC attended the meeting.
The OECD Competition Committee convenes the Competition Committee meeting, the Working Party No. 2 on Competition and Regulation, and the Working Party No. 3 on Co-operation and Enforcement, twice a year, around June and December, respectively.
The agenda of the OECD Competition Committee meetings reflects the awareness of the issues raised by member countries at the time. At this meeting, topics such as “Artificial Intelligence, Data and Competition,” “Pro-Competitive Industrial Policy,” “The Intersection Between Competition and Data Privacy” and “Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies” were discussed. Of these, the JFTC submitted contribution documents and participated in discussions on two topics: “Pro-Competitive Industrial Policy,” in the Competition Committee meeting and “Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies” in the Working Party No. 3.
In the “Pro-Competitive Industrial Policy” session, experts explained the importance of cooperation between competition and regulatory authorities to realize competition-promoting industrial policies, and attendees from authorities introduced their efforts to make their industrial policies more competition-promoting.
From Japan, Commissioner Aoki gave a presentation on “Market Study Report on the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Service on Expressways” published in July 2023. In this report, the JFTC recommended that expressway companies should select EV charger installers from multiple providers. Subsequently, expressway companies announced their policies to select EV charger installers in accordance with this recommendation.
In the “Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies” session, participants discussed measures to deal with unconventional competition problems in the digital field, etc., and introduced initiatives being taken by various countries. Ms. Tanaka, Deputy Secretary General for International Affairs, gave a presentation on the purpose and main contents of the Bill for the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software.
The JFTC intends to continue to actively participate in discussions and make contributions in international frameworks, including the OECD Competition Committee.
(Regarding Upcoming Actions Related to Commitment Procedures)
Next, I would like to explain our upcoming actions related to commitment procedures.
The commitment procedure, introduced in December 2018, aims to contribute to the overall efficient and effective enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act by swiftly eliminating alleged violations. As of June this year, we have handled 19 cases under this procedure. Although there have been no cases of inadequate implementation of the commitment plans approved by the JFTC so far, we will take the following measures to ensure more efficient and effective implementation of the commitment procedures going forward.
The first measure relates to the implementation period of commitment measures. In cases where the commitment procedure has been applied, the implementation period for commitment measures has been determined after considering the time required for each case. However, the implementation periods have been three years in all cases so far. Nevertheless, taking into accounts factors such as the life cycle of the products, the duration of service contracts involved in the alleged violations, the practices of foreign authorities, and the perspective of ensuring the restoration of competition, we plan to act in a manner that, while considering the specifics of each case, we generally assume an implementation period of at least five years. This approach is designed to more reliably prevent the recurrence of similar conduct.
The second measure is to ensure the implementation of commitment measures. Until now, the effectiveness in implementing commitment measures as a whole has been ensured by having the enterprises implement them on their own and report their compliance to the JFTC. On the other hand, since more reliable implementation of commitment measures can be ensured if they are monitored objectively by independent outside experts rather than by the enterprise itself, we will actively utilize the monitoring by outside experts for the overall implementation of commitment measures.In addition, in cases where the JFTC deems it particularly necessary, such as cases with significant impact on market or society, the JFTC will apply the provision of Article 47 of the Antimonopoly Act, pursuant to Article 68 of the Act. In other words, by applying the provision for investigative authority with penalties, investigating not only directly related parties, but also business partners or competitors, the JFTC will confirm the status of the implementation of commitment measures in order to ensure them.
The JFTC will continue to operate the commitment procedures more effectively and efficiently.
（Tentative translation）
Today, I would like to introduce the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Competition Committee June 2024 meeting. It was held in Paris, France, from June 10th to 14th. Commissioner Aoki, Ms. Tanaka, Deputy Secretary General for International Affairs, and another staff member of the JFTC attended the meeting.
The OECD Competition Committee convenes the Competition Committee meeting, the Working Party No. 2 on Competition and Regulation, and the Working Party No. 3 on Co-operation and Enforcement, twice a year, around June and December, respectively.
The agenda of the OECD Competition Committee meetings reflects the awareness of the issues raised by member countries at the time. At this meeting, topics such as “Artificial Intelligence, Data and Competition,” “Pro-Competitive Industrial Policy,” “The Intersection Between Competition and Data Privacy” and “Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies” were discussed. Of these, the JFTC submitted contribution documents and participated in discussions on two topics: “Pro-Competitive Industrial Policy,” in the Competition Committee meeting and “Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies” in the Working Party No. 3.
In the “Pro-Competitive Industrial Policy” session, experts explained the importance of cooperation between competition and regulatory authorities to realize competition-promoting industrial policies, and attendees from authorities introduced their efforts to make their industrial policies more competition-promoting.
From Japan, Commissioner Aoki gave a presentation on “Market Study Report on the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Service on Expressways” published in July 2023. In this report, the JFTC recommended that expressway companies should select EV charger installers from multiple providers. Subsequently, expressway companies announced their policies to select EV charger installers in accordance with this recommendation.
In the “Monopolisation, Moat Building and Entrenchment Strategies” session, participants discussed measures to deal with unconventional competition problems in the digital field, etc., and introduced initiatives being taken by various countries. Ms. Tanaka, Deputy Secretary General for International Affairs, gave a presentation on the purpose and main contents of the Bill for the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software.
The JFTC intends to continue to actively participate in discussions and make contributions in international frameworks, including the OECD Competition Committee.
(Regarding Upcoming Actions Related to Commitment Procedures)
Next, I would like to explain our upcoming actions related to commitment procedures.
The commitment procedure, introduced in December 2018, aims to contribute to the overall efficient and effective enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act by swiftly eliminating alleged violations. As of June this year, we have handled 19 cases under this procedure. Although there have been no cases of inadequate implementation of the commitment plans approved by the JFTC so far, we will take the following measures to ensure more efficient and effective implementation of the commitment procedures going forward.
The first measure relates to the implementation period of commitment measures. In cases where the commitment procedure has been applied, the implementation period for commitment measures has been determined after considering the time required for each case. However, the implementation periods have been three years in all cases so far. Nevertheless, taking into accounts factors such as the life cycle of the products, the duration of service contracts involved in the alleged violations, the practices of foreign authorities, and the perspective of ensuring the restoration of competition, we plan to act in a manner that, while considering the specifics of each case, we generally assume an implementation period of at least five years. This approach is designed to more reliably prevent the recurrence of similar conduct.
The second measure is to ensure the implementation of commitment measures. Until now, the effectiveness in implementing commitment measures as a whole has been ensured by having the enterprises implement them on their own and report their compliance to the JFTC. On the other hand, since more reliable implementation of commitment measures can be ensured if they are monitored objectively by independent outside experts rather than by the enterprise itself, we will actively utilize the monitoring by outside experts for the overall implementation of commitment measures.In addition, in cases where the JFTC deems it particularly necessary, such as cases with significant impact on market or society, the JFTC will apply the provision of Article 47 of the Antimonopoly Act, pursuant to Article 68 of the Act. In other words, by applying the provision for investigative authority with penalties, investigating not only directly related parties, but also business partners or competitors, the JFTC will confirm the status of the implementation of commitment measures in order to ensure them.
The JFTC will continue to operate the commitment procedures more effectively and efficiently.
（Tentative translation）
