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We have established an Antitrust Practice Group in Tokyo. Our vision in establishing the Group is to further strengthen our ability to handle domestic anti-monopoly cases to the fullest extent, covering administrative, civil and criminal aspects. We also aim to provide a one-stop for services. Together with experts from Baker & McKenzie offices around the world, we aim to handle international cartel and other anti-trust cases as one team. This is particularly valuable in view of the globalization of international cartels and other offenses and merger control.
Enforcement under the Anti-monopoly Act was materially amended in 2006 as a result of amendments to the Anti-monopoly Act. Particularly ground-breaking was the introduction of the leniency program (the reduction of or exemption from fines). The number of countries adopting the leniency program has now increased, and as many as 46 countries have introduced the program. In addition, the strengthening of national regulations and cooperation between countries has advanced rapidly. In particular, the regulation and practices of international cartels has completely changed in the past 2-3 years. Surprisingly, Japanese corporations were responsible for paying more than 30% of the total amount of fines handed down in the EU in 2007, amounting to total fines of approximately 3.3 billion Euro. When Japanese companies are confronted with international cartel issues, including the submission of leniency applications, they can benefit from adopting a strategic approach from a global perspective, rather than being over-burdened by dealing with each country’s program individually.
Baker & McKenzie has a tightly-knit Global Antitrust & Competition Group of around 260 lawyers throughout Baker & McKenzie’s international offices, with America, Europe and Japan at its center. The creation of the Antitrust Practice Group in Tokyo has strengthened our ability to provide rapid and systematic support globally.
We are proud to say that the Antitrust Practice Group in Tokyo is the biggest in Japan, with 37 specialists in total covering every field, including a core member group of 9 practitioners. The scope of our services has also been substantially broadened by consolidating the experience of our specialists in the Antitrust Practice Group with that of specialists from other related fields.
Our services include: (i) provision of support in domestic and international cartel matters; (ii) conducting/instruction of corporate internal investigations in and outside of Japan; (iii) dealing with investigations/on-site inspections by the Fair Trade Commission and relevant agencies outside of Japan; (iv) giving advice or preparing relevant documents in response to relevant corporate merger control regulations governing M&A or group reorganization; (v) IP-related antitrust matters (patents/know-how/licensing etc.); (vi) dealing with Fair Trade Commission investigations; (vii) dealing with civil/criminal proceedings; and (viii) compliance with antitrust laws and regulations in various countries, including the new Anti-Monopoly Law in China.
In addition, as a response to global competition compliance issues, we have created the Antitrust Law Compliance Manual for domestic and global organizational purposes, to provide advice and guidance to corporations in and outside of Japan.
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2008/4/23
“New Developments Under the Antitrust law in Japan, Changes in JFTC Policies Against Foreign Corporations”, co-authored by Fumio Koma, Shinichiro Abe and Junya Ae. |
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