The public reported that the gasoline stations in the Hualien-Taitung area owned by Taiwan Sugar Corporation did not participate in the price reduction promotion held by that company might be a result of the restraint action of the local gasoline station association of the Hualien-Taitung area and was suspected to be a violation of the Fair Trade Law

Chinese Taipei

Case:

The public reported that the gasoline stations in the Hualien-Taitung area owned by Taiwan Sugar Corporation did not participate in the price reduction promotion held by that company might be a result of the restraint action of the local gasoline station association of the Hualien-Taitung area and was suspected to be a violation of the Fair Trade Law

Key Words:

restraint action, commercial association, price deduction promotion

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of March 17, 2005 (the 697th Commissioners’ Meeting); Letter Kung Erh Tzu No. 0940002082 of March 18, 2005

Industry:

Other Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing (1990)

Relevant Laws:

Articles 14 and 19 (iv) of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. The case originated from a complaint filed by a citizen, Lee, alleging that (in short): the gasoline stations owned by Taiwan Sugar Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Taiwan Sugar”) had a price reduction promotion where one liter of gasoline cost 3 dollars less for 3 consecutive days starting from June 28, 2004. However, Taiwan Sugar’s gasoline stations in the Hualien-Taitung area did not simultaneously proceed with said promotion. According to the report published in the United Daily News, the Hualien-Taitung commercial association of gasoline stations had already restrained the local gasoline station operators from individually commencing promotions or reducing the prices.
   
2. Upon the investigation, this Commission found that:
   Taiwan Sugar held a price reduction promotion where one liter of gasoline cost 3 dollars less from June 28, 2004 to June 30, 2004. However, the areas where this promotion was conducted were limited to Taiwan Sugar’s 63 gasoline stations in the western Taiwan. The gasoline stations in the Hualien-Taitung area were originally excluded from the promotion. Based on the explanation provided by Taiwan Sugar, because the gasoline issue amount of the gasoline stations in the Hualien-Taitung area was above the average, the gasoline stations were in good operating conditions, and the promotion materials might be difficult to transport and supply during the promotion, the company decided to exclude the gasoline stations in the Hualien-Taitung area from said promotion. Also, after this Commission’s investigation, there was no relevant evidence found to show that the action in question was related to the gasoline station commercial association of the Hualien-Taitung area. Thus, there was no violation of the Fair Trade Law.

Summarized by Lin, Hsiao-Hung
Supervised by Lin, Gin-Lan

Appendix:

Taiwan Sugar Corporation’s Uniform Invoice Number: 03794905