The
Investigation of Violations of the Antimonopoly Act in FY2002
1. Outline
(1)
In
FY 20002 the JFTC took legal measures against 37 cases (*) of
violations of the Antimonopoly Act involving a total of 805 firms and
trade associations. (See the table shown below for the statistics on the violations.).
The
37 cases of legal measures taken in FY 20020
consist of those against 30 bid-riggings, 2 price cartel,
unfair trade practices and two others.
The
JFTC also issued 17 warnings and 49 cautions (excluding
cases of unjust low price sale that were speedily disposed of).
The
number of the cases reported to the JFTC in FY 20002 for suspected
violation of the Antimonopoly Act was 2,290 .
In response to such reports, which were filed in writing with the concrete
facts of the offense described, the JFTC notifies the reporting party of the
type of measure it took or did not take in the case, and made 1,676 such notifications in FY 20002. 1,718 cases were
associated with unjust low price sale by retailers, making up about 75% of all reported
cases.
*
¡§Legal measures¡¨ includes (i) recommendations and (ii) surcharge payment order
without having given recommendation.
(2)
A
total of 6,284,97 0 thousand yen
in surcharge payment orders were issued to 599 firms . involved
in violation of the Antimonopoly Act.
2. Features
of the Cases Investigated in FY 20002
(1)
The trend remained unchanged, showing bid rigging to be the most frequent type
of violation (see the table below).
3. Surcharge
In FY 20002, the JFTC issued
orders to pay surcharges of 6,284,970 thousand
yen in total against 599 firms involved
in violation of the Antimonopoly Act.
Out
of the 599 firms, 38 firms requested
the initiation of hearing procedures and at each request the JFTC decided
to initiate hearing procedures (regarding surcharges of 1,950,970 thousand yen
in total). As a result, surcharges of 4,334,000 thousand
yen were determined.
Table 1 Recent status of the measures taken against investigation
cases (except prompt measures taken against the investigation case of Unjust
Low Price Sales)
|
Fiscal Year
Actions
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
|
Number of CasesInvestigation
|
Transferred from the previous year
|
45
|
50
|
39
|
34
|
37
|
|
Investigation sStarted Cases Investigation
in the current year
|
125
|
82
|
69
|
90
|
111
|
|
Total
|
170
|
132
|
108
|
124
|
148
|
|
Measures
|
Legal Measures
|
Number of cases
|
Recommendation
(Decision to start Hearing
Procedure) (Note 1)
Number of firms or
associations involved
|
27
(3)
585
|
26
(6)
935
|
18
(0)
608
|
37
(3)
894
|
37
(8)
805
|
|
Surcharge Payment Order
(Note 2)
(Decision to start Hearing Procedure)
(Note 1)
Number of firms or
associations involved
|
0
|
1
(1)
|
0
|
1
(1)
34
|
0
|
|
|
|
Subtotal
Number of firms or
associations involved
|
27
585
|
27
938
|
18
608
|
38
928
|
37
805
|
|
Others
|
Warnings
|
17
|
20
|
17
|
15
|
17
|
|
Cautions
|
62
|
36
|
36
|
26
|
49
|
|
Terminations (Note 3)
|
14
|
10
|
3
|
8
|
5
|
|
Subtotal
|
93
|
66
|
56
|
49
|
71
|
|
Total
|
120
|
93
|
74
|
87
|
108
|
|
Transferred to the next year
|
50
|
39
|
34
|
37
|
40
|
|
Surcharge Payment Order
|
Number of Cases
(Decision to start Hearing Procedure) (Note 1)
|
16
|
20
|
16
|
15
|
37
|
|
Number of firms (Note 4)
Amount of Surcharge (yen)
|
576
3,149.15
million yen
|
335
5,458.91 million yen
|
719
8,516.68 million yen
|
248
2,199.05 million yen
|
561
4,334
million
yen
|
|
Accusations (Note 5)
|
1(1)
|
1(1)
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Note)
1. The numbers in parenthesis
show the number of cases in which hearing procedures relating to recommendations
or surcharge payment orders have been started.
2. .The number of surcharge payment orders without proceeding recommendation
3. ¡§Termination¡¨ means the closing of the file because no violations
were found.
4. Including the number of cases of surcharge payment orders by
decision, and not including the cases of surcharge payment order by decision
which became defunct after hearing procedures had been started.
5. The number in parenthesis in FY 1998 and FY 1999 show the additional
accusations of a case in the each FY.
Table 2 Status of Prompt Measure Taken
Against the Cases of Unjust Low Price Sales
|
Fiscal Year
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
20002
|
|
Number of
cautions against Unjust Low Price Sales
(by prompt
measure)
|
574
|
672
|
1,044
|
2,624
|
1,007
|
Table 2 Recent Status of Legal Measures< (classified by types
of offenses)
¡@
|
Fiscal Year
Contents
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
Total
|
|
Private
Monopolization
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
|
Cartels
|
Price Cartels
(Note1)
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
8
|
|
Bid-rigging
|
17
|
18
|
10
|
33
|
30
|
108
|
|
Other Cartels(Note2)
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
|
Subtotal
|
19
|
20
|
12
|
36
|
33
|
120
|
|
Unfair Trade
Practices (Note3)
|
Resale Price
Restriction
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
7
|
|
Dealing on Restrictive / Exclusive Terms
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Interference
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
|
Abuse of
dominant position
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Others
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
|
Subtotal
|
6
|
3
|
6
|
2
|
3
|
20
|
|
Others (Note4)
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
|
Total
|
27
|
27
|
18
|
38
|
37
|
147
|
(Note)
1. Cases concerned with not only price cartels but also
other kinds of cartels are all included under the single category of ¡§Price
Cartels¡¨. Likewise, cases concerned with various types of conduct are all classified
as a kind of principal conduct.
2. ¡§Other Cartels¡¨ mean cartels on quantity, channels
of distribution, prohibition of the change of customers and restriction of
equipment.
3. The cases
violating 8 (1) (ⅴ) are classified as ¡§Unfair Trade Practices¡¨.
4. ¡§Others¡¨ mean restrictions by trade associations on the functions
and activities of members and other related conduct.