Violation of the Fair Trade Law by Kaohsiung City Taxi Radio Station Association for concerted action of price fixing
Chinese Taipei
Case:
Violation of the Fair Trade Law by Kaohsiung City Taxi Radio Station Association for concerted action of price fixing
Key Words:
concerted action, price fixing, radio station
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission Decision of October 14, 1998 (362nd Commission Meeting); Disposition Ref. (87) Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 236
Industry:
Telecommunication Industry (6320)
Relevant Laws:
Summary:
The Kaohsiung City Taxi Radio Station Association was accused of requiring all radio stations to collect at least NT$1,800 per month in fees from taxis, violating Article 14 of the Fair Trade Law (FTL) that prohibits concerted action.
It is confirmed that Kaohsiung City Taxi Radio Station Association, in its second joint meeting of second term council members and supervisors, approved the Kaohsiung City Taxi Radio Station Association Pact whereby service fees collected by each member from taxis must be at least NT$1,800 per month. To ensure that the Pact will be duly followed, each member in the Association is required under the Pact to issue a promissory note with a face value of NT$500,000 and with the Association as the payee. It is also stipulated in the Pact that each member in the Association shall be fined NT$100,000 in cases of violation. All members in the Association signed the Pact and issued the said promissory notes several days after the meeting.
Taxi radio stations provide radio services to taxis and charge them accordingly. While joining the Association, members are competitors in the same horizontal market. The concerted action of fixing the price for service approved in the meeting was intended to restrain activities among members and was sufficient to affect the supply and demand conditions in the market of taxi radio services in Kaohsiung area. This has met the requirements of concerted action stipulated in FTL Article 7 and is a violation of FTL Article 14. .
Summarized by Chen, Yi-Cheng
Supervised by Hsin Chih Chung
Appendix:
Kaohsiung City Taxi Radio Station Association’s Uniform Invoice No.: N/A