January 14, 2026
Japan Fair Trade Commission
The 20th East Asia Top Level Officials’ Meeting on Competition Policy and the 17th East Asia Conference on Competition Law and Policy
Today, I would like to talk about the upcoming 20th East Asia Top Level Officials’ Meeting on Competition Policy and the 17th East Asia Conference on Competition Law and Policy, which will be hosted by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC).
First, I would like to explain the East Asia Top Level Officials’ Meeting on Competition Policy. This meeting is commonly referred to by the acronym “EATOP,” which stands for East Asia Top. It is scheduled to be attended by the heads and other senior officials of 16 competition authorities from East Asia and related regions. EATOP serves as a forum where the heads of competition authorities in East Asia and related regions engage in candid exchanges of information and views, including discussions on their experiences in competition law enforcement. The meeting was established in 2005.
The 20th EATOP will be held in Tokyo on February 5. From the JFTC, Chair Chatani, Commissioner Aoki, and other officials are scheduled to attend. The meeting will feature sessions discussing initiatives and challenges faced by competition authorities in the digital sector and the net-zero field, both of which are of strong interest to many competition authorities. In addition, there will be a session focusing on economic analysis, which has been widely utilized in recent years in law enforcement and policy development. As this meeting marks the 20th anniversary of EATOP, a special session entitled “EATOP Roundtable 2026: Looking Ahead to the Future of EATOP” is also planned.
Next, I will briefly outline the East Asia Conference on Competition Law and Policy. This conference is commonly referred to by the acronym “EAC,” which is derived from the initial letters of East Asia Conference. In addition to the participants of EATOP, the conference will be attended by members from academia and the legal community. EAC serves as a forum for competition law and competition policy advocacy, where discussions are conducted with the participation of private-sector stakeholders, including those from academia and industry, and where a wide range of views are shared. The conference has been held since 2004.
The 17th EAC will be held in Tokyo on February 6, the day following EATOP, in a hybrid format, both in person and online. As with EATOP, Chair Chatani, Commissioner Aoki, and other officials of the JFTC are scheduled to attend the conference. The EAC is open to the public, and the call for participation was launched on the JFTC’s website on January 9.
The EAC will include sessions introducing initiatives and challenges related to regulatory frameworks and law enforcement in the digital sector in Japan and the Republic of Korea, a session in which insights will be shared by an economist involved in providing competition law assistance to developing countries, and a session focusing on the activities and challenges of the Indonesian competition authority, which has been actively enforcing competition law within ASEAN.
The JFTC believes that these meetings provide an excellent opportunity to build cooperative relationships among competition authorities in the East Asia region and related regions, to share common challenges, and to promote understanding of competition policy. The JFTC will continue to actively contribute to these efforts going forward.
（Tentative translation）
