日本 2019年 獨占禁止法 改正의 主要 內容

Abstract

On March 12, 2019, the Japanese Cabinet approved and submitted to the Diet a bill (“Bill”) to amend the Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade (“Anti-monopoly Act”, “AMA”). The main purpose of the Bill is to deter antitrust law violations by promoting the cooperation of companies themselves in investigating antitrust law violations and providing for appropriate administrative fines when violations are found. Current legislation stipulates that, when companies file a leniency application before the official initiation of a JFTC investigation (i.e., dawn raid), the first applicant is eligible to receive 100% immunity from any subsequent surcharge payment order, the second applicant is eligible to receive a 50% reduction and other applicants receive a 30% reduction (up to five applicants in total). When companies file a leniency application after the official initiation of a JFTC investigation, they are eligible to receive a 30% reduction (up to three applicants after the dawn raid or up to five applicants including the applicants before the official initiation of the investigation). If the leniency application is completed and the applicant complies with certain requirements such as ongoing cooperation with the JFTC, the reward granted accordingly to the applicant (i.e., immunity or amount of reduction) is automatically determined in accordance with the law. After the Amendment is effectuated, when companies file a leniency application before the official initiation of a JFTC investigation, the first applicant is eligible to receive 100% immunity from any subsequent surcharge payment order (same as the current legislation), the second applicant is eligible to receive a 20% reduction, the third to fifth applicants receive a 10% reduction and the sixth or subsequent applicants will receive a 5% reduction. When companies file a leniency application after the official initiation of a JFTC investigation, they are eligible to receive a 10% reduction up to three applicants after the dawn raid or up to five applicants including the applicants before the official initiation of the investigation, and subsequent applicants will receive a 5% reduction. With regard to the second and after applicants before the official initiation of a JFTC investigation, a 40% reduction utmost may be added to the foregoing percentages, depending on and considering the degree of cooperation by the applicants to the investigative process. With regard to the applicants after the official initiation of a JFTC investigation, such potential addition to the reduction percentage amount shall be 20% at the maximum. Such additional reduction amount shall be finally determined by an agreement between the JFTC and the company concerned after discussion. The JFTC’s policy is not to file a criminal accusation for an officer or employee of the first-in leniency applicant, but other leniency applicants may be subject to a criminal penalty. The leniency applications will not have any impact on civil liability.