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Framework for Presentation of Individual Action Plans by Economies

1. How well IAPs for competition policy and for deregulation conform to the format guidelines that were agreed to by the CTI and subsequently the SOM last year; and
2. What improvements members intend to make to plans over the coming year. Examples of improvements might include the adoption of new or improved competition laws, putting in place other policies to improve competitive pressures in markets and the implementation of new deregulation initiatives.

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1. Competition Policy

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OBJECTIVE

APEC economies will enhance the competitive environment in the Asia-Pacific region by introducing or maintaining effective and adequate competition policy and/or laws and associated enforcement policies, ensuring the transparency of the above and promoting cooperation among APEC economies, thereby maximizing, inter alia, the efficient operation of markets, competition among producers and traders, and consumer benefits.

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GUIDELINES

Each APEC economy will:

1. review its respective competition policy and/or laws and the enforcement thereof in terms of transparency;

2. implement as appropriate technical assistance in regard to policy development, legislative drafting, and the constitution, powers and functions of appropriate enforcement agencies; and

3. establish appropriate cooperation arrangements among APEC economies.

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�. DEREGULATION

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OBJECTIVE

APEC economies will

1. promote the transparency of their respective regulatory regimes; and
2. eliminate trade and investment distortion arising from domestic regulations which not only impede free and open trade and investment in the Asian Pacific region but also are more trade and/or investment restricting than necessary to fulfill a legitimate objective.

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COMPETITION POLICY

Australia	Canada	Chile
Chinese Taipei	Hong Kong, China	Indonesia
Japan	Republic of Korea	Malaysia
Mexico	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea
People's Republic of China	Republic of the Philippines	Singapore
United States of America

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DEREGULATION

Australia	Brunei Darussalam	Canada
Chile	Chinese Taipei	Hong Kong, China
Indonesia	Japan	Republic of Korea
Mexico	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea
People's Republic of China	Republic of the Philippines	Singapore
United States of America

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Australia has a sophisticated competition policy which has undergone significant development in recent years. Competitive conduct rules are set out in the Trade Practices Act 1974 (a Federal law) and the Competition Code (State and Territory law). These rules prohibit specific types of anti-competitive conduct namely:

• anti-competitive agreements (eg collusive price fixing)
• misuse of substantial market power
• exclusive dealing
• resale price maintenance
• anti-competitive acquisitions.

The competitive conduct rules are administered by a general regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which is charged with enforcing the rules, private action is also available.

Australian competition policy also extends to:

• laws for access to essential facilities
• laws for price oversight of firms with substantial market power
• principles for review and reform of anti-competitive regulation
• principles for structural reform of public monopolies
• principles for competitive neutrality between government owned and privately owned businesses.

These constituent elements inter-lock to create a cohesive policy fostering market access, with the goal of increasing efficiency through greater competition.

From 21 July 1996, the competitive conduct rules will cover all business activity in the Australian economy including government business activity. Conduct is exempted from these rules on a case-by-case basis:

• an administrative process managed by the ACCC whereby conduct can be protected on public benefit grounds. These exemptions are reviewable by the ACCC
• a parliamentary process whereby legislation can protect conduct.

Australia's competition laws are widely available. Further, the ACCC publishes guidelines on specific aspects of the law (including administrative procedures) and on its enforcement priorities.

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Objective

To enhance the competitive environment in the Asia-Pacific region by introducing or maintaining effective and adequate competition policy and/or laws and associated enforcement policies, ensuring transparency of the above, and promoting cooperation among APEC economies, thereby maximizing, inter alia, the efficient operation of markets, competition among producers and traders, and consumer benefits.

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Australia will:

Remain committed to maintaining effective and transparent competition policy and laws and associated enforcement policies.

Develop a timetable to review legislative exemptions to the competitive conduct rules.

Continue to provide assistance in regard to policy development and technical issues to APEC economies as requested (subject to resource availability).

In addition to existing mutual assistance agreements with the United States and New Zealand, pursue negotiations with the United States and Taiwan on cooperation in the enforcement of competition laws.

Continue to establish cooperation agreements with other APEC countries as appropriate. Seek to encourage the exchange of information on developments between APEC economies and develop a forum for dialogue to deepen understanding of competition policy within APEC.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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CURRENT STATUS

Canada has had legislation restricting anti-competitive behaviour since 1889. The current legislation, the Competition Act, is one of the key framework business laws in Canada. The Act is administered by the Competition Bureau, the Canadian competition authority. Active enforcement of the Act has created a competitive marketplace in Canada, allowing for lower costs and prices, greater incentives for product innovation and development and better quality goods and services. The Act is regularly scrutinized in order to ensure that it remains abreast of domestic and international developments. It was last substantially amended in 1986.

The Act applies to most Canadian industries and levels of trade, establishing basic principles for the conduct of business to promote competition and efficiency in the Canadian economy. The Act contains provisions addressing both:

1. criminal offenses, including conspiracy, bid-rigging, discriminatory and predatory pricing, price maintenance, misleading advertising, and deceptive marketing practices; and
2. matters subject to civil review, such as mergers, abuse of dominant position, refusal to deal, consignment selling, exclusive dealing, tied selling, market restriction, and delivered pricing.

Transparency of the competition policy regime in Canada has been well-served through the advisory opinion program (which has been used extensively by businesses looking for the competition authority's views on proposed arrangements or transactions) and the availability of advance ruling certificates, which are more binding than advisory opinions.

Enforcement transparency is also enhanced through public distribution of a variety of written materials, including pamphlets, bulletins, and enforcement guidelines.

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INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS

1. Legislative Amendments to the Competition Act

In June of 1995, public consultations aimed at updating the Competition Act were undertaken. As a result of these consultations, Bill C-67, an Act to amend the Competition Act, was introduced in Parliament on November 7, 1996. The Bill died on the Order Paper when Parliament was prorogued. The Bill dealt with the following subjects:

• notifiable transactions;
• misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices;
• regular price claims;
• prohibition orders; and
• deceptive telemarketing solicitations.

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2. Regulatory Reform

The Competition Bureau is currently participating in the Government of Canada's deregulation and privatization initiatives to ensure the efficient provision of goods and services in Canada. Recent sectoral initiatives include: telecommunications, transportation, electricity, energy, financial services, and postal services. In the longer term, Canada is committed to continuing to adapt its competition regime as necessary to accommodate the changing domestic and international environment.

3. International Technical Assistance

Canada has a long history of offering technical assistance to other economies, including some APEC members, bilaterally through the OECD, the World Bank, and UNCTAD. Canada will continue to offer such assistance, in coordination with other APEC economies, the OECD, the World Bank, and UNCTAD.

4. International Cooperation

Canada has been active in seeking effective international cooperation. The 1995 Canada-U.S. Agreement sets a framework for bilateral cooperation for the enforcement of competition law. This agreement has proven successful in a number of international prosecutions. Canada and the European Union are currently in the process of negotiating a similar enforcement cooperation arrangement.

Reflecting a long-standing commitment to the international aspects of competition policy, Canada has participated and will continue to participate in the discussion of international competition issues in the following fora:

• APEC Competition Policy forum;
• The NAFTA, both in general and through its Trade and Competition Policy Working Group;
• The FTAA Competition Policy Working Group;
• The OECD Committee on Competition Law and Policy, and Joint Group with the Trade Committee;
• UNCTAD's work on Restrictive Business Practices
• WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition.

Canada will also seriously consider participation in other international fora considering competition policy.

Canada is prepared to explore the development of an APEC-wide mechanism patterned on the 1995 OECD Revised Recommendation.

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The present law for the protection of competition is in effect since 1973. This law created an antitrust commissions and a Fiscalia Nacional Economica (National Economic Prosecutor's Office), with strong powers to prevent and resolve about anticompetitive conducts and market structure.

Chilean economy is operating under competition, with no barriers to trade or foreign investment, and a low tariffs level.

Chile has made a great effort to promote competition in key areas of the economy like telecommunications and other.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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1. Heading Statement

Chinese Taipei has adopted the principle of "Competition policy in prime and industrial policy in aiding" since 1995 as the guiding principle in the shaping of its economic policy. The intention is to introduce a competition-based economic order to every possible sector of the economy. To complement this policy compaign. Chinese Taipei is undergoing a series of review of its laws and regulations which may impede market competition.

Chinese Taipei's "Fair Trade Law" was promulgated in 1991 and implemented in 1992. The Law regulates a wide range of business practices, including abuse of monopoly power, mergers, horizontal collaboration and other restrictive trade practices, unfair trade practices, and multi-level sale schemes.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) was established in 1992 as the enforcement agency of the Fair Trade Law. In addition to conducting investigations, the FTC also coordinates and consults with other relevant agencies with a view to reducing the scope of exemptions from the FTL which are sanctioned by other laws and fall within the jurisdictions of other agencies. The Commission also conducts compliance educational programs to increase the public's and the business sectors' awareness and understanding of the Law.

To comply with the transparency principle in the Guidelines of Competition Policy in the Osaka Action Agenda, Chinese Taipei plans to strengthen its educational programs for the general public, and domestic as well as foreign firms, and to continue to review and establish operation guidelines. Complete consultation services related to current competition policy and competition law enforcement are also offered by the Fair Trade Commission. In addition, the Commission is in the process of establishing a "Competition Policy Information and Research Center" to facilitate research in the area of competition law and policy.

Chinese Taipei is prepared to offer, where appropriate, technical assistance to other member economies in the respect of enactment of competition law and public compliance educational program, subject to available resources. Also, Chinese Taipei will continue its cooperation with other members' competition agencies through the exchange of information and consultation.

Chinese Taipei is pro-active in the enforcement of the Fair Trade Law with a view to eliminating market entry barriers and ensuring that domestic markets are under free and fair competition. Chinese Taipei has offered to be the responsible economy for establishing the "APEC Competition Policy Database" as part of its contribution to the APEC process; in particular, the achievement of the goal of free trade and investment in the region as envisioned in the Boger declaration.

2. Current Position

Chinese Taipei enacted the Fair Trade Law (FTL) in 1991 and effectively enforced with the founding of the Fair Trade Commission, Chinese Taipei (FTC) in February 1992.

The FTC regulates anticompetitive practices such as monopolies, collusion, mergers, resale price maintenance and other activities which cause restraints to fair competition. In addition, the FTC monitors and corrects unfair trade practices such as false or misleading advertising, passing-offs, trade disparagement, multi-level sales as well as other deceptive market behaviors or practices which violate the law. Furthermore, the FTL extends protection to foreign parties on a reciprocal basis.

The FTC, in addition to its responsibilities outlined above, is active in public compliance education programs. A multi-dimensional approach is adopted which includes holding public seminars on the application and the enforcement of the FTL; the distribution of educational pamphlets; the regular organization of 72-hours of lectures for employees of managerial-level and above; as well as the use of public media, e.g. television, radio broadcasts, multi-media and regular newsletters. All these efforts serve as a bridge towards fulfilling the aim of greater transparency in the application of the FTL.

3. Objective (a) �� to enhance transparency

Chinese Taipei will,

Short/Medium/Long Term (1997 ~ 2005)

• review guidelines for application of the law in respect of various anti-competitive and unfair trade practices;
• establish a task force to examine all other relevant laws, to compliment the trade liberalization process;
• strengthen compliance education programs;
• establish operational guidelines for investigative procedures and ensure legal rights of the parties involved.
• establish a "Competition Policy Information and Research Center" and continue the sourcing and updating of the relevant information;
• continue to establish and review guidelines.

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Objective (b) �� to strengthen technical assistance

Chinese Taipei will,

Short/Medium/Long Term (1997 ~ 2005)

• offer our experiences to other APEC members where appropriate, in

1. the making of the relevant laws, regulations and working guidelines;
2. inter-agency coordination relating to enforcement of the law, and
3. compliance education.

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Objective (c) ��to strengthen cooperation

Chinese Taipei will:

Short/Medium/Long Term (1997 ~ 2005)

• set up "windows" for communication with competition authorities of other APEC members;
• continue cooperation with other members through the exchange of information, staff members, technical assistance, as well as other informal arrangements;
• establish bilateral agreements/arrangements.

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Short/Medium/Long Term (1997 ~ 2010)

discuss and analyze non-binding principles relevant to competition policies/laws as contemplated in the Osaka Action Agenda, through established bilateral coordination and cooperation agreements / arrangements.

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Competition Policy

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1. Current Position

Hong Kong is fully committed to the promotion of free trade and competition. We firmly subscribe to the basic principle of minimum government intervention, and adopt pragmatic and appropriate measures to safeguard competition and protect consumer interests on a sector-specific basis. We regularly review such measures to ensure they still meet the needs of the current economy.

2. IAP Progress of Implementation

Serial No.	Commitment	Responsible Branch/ Department	Progress of Implementation
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8.1	Review its competition policy in the light of the findings of the competition studies conducted by the Consumer Council and consider if additional administrative or legislative measures are required to promote competition in Hong Kong further	Trade and Industry Branch	Currently examining public feedback on the final Consumer Council Report which recommends enacting a comprehensive competition law and establishing a competition authority; will issue a Government Response to the Report this summer.
8.2	Review the Telecommunication Ordinance to promote fair competition and prevent anti-competitive practices by developing further the legal framework which safeguards competition and governs interconnection, accounting separation and sharing of essential facilities among competitors in the market	Economic Services Branch	Completed public consultation on Telecommunications Review in April 1997; currently examining public feedback to prepare the final Report. The Review will focus on examining the state of development of Hong Kong's telecommunications industry since opening up the industry to competition, formulating policy options to respond to future technological developments and developing strategic options to maintain HK's leading position in this area.
8.3	Study the feasibility of introducing a common carrier system in Hong Kong for the supply of fuel gas for domestic water heating and cooking to promote competition	Economic Services Branch	Commissioned a consultancy study in September 1996 on the project; will carefully consider recommendations once available.
8.4	Seek to enact legislation to abolish mandatory fee scales for conveyancing and probate work in order to promote competition and enhance consumer interests	Legal Department	Introduced a Bill in June 1996 to, inter alia, abolish the mandatory scale fees for conveyancing and probate work.
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8.5	Continue to participate actively in competition policy dialogues among APEC economies to enhance mutual understanding of competition policy / laws	Trade and Industry Branch / Trade Department	Have participated in various competition workshops and training seminars; will continue to participate actively in competition policy dialogues.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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1. CURRENT STATUS

• Indonesia's law contains several provision on competition in the economy and provide the necessary precedents for the enactment of a more comprehensive/codified competition law in the future. Existing Indonesian law takes steps to protect consumers and businesses from unfair competition in business activities. These provision are laid down in various laws such as Criminal Code (article 382 of the Criminal Code), the Civil Code (i.e. Article 1365 of the Civil Code), the Capital Market Law, and the law pertaining to the protection of Intellectual Property Rights.

• In support of the law pertaining to fair competition, the government has enacted various laws concerning the protection of intellectual property, such as the Patent Law (1991), the Copyright Law adopted in 1982 and amended in 1989, the Trademark Law which was revised in 1992.

• Indonesia's laws affecting competition in the economy were significantly strengthened with the adoption of 7 March 1995 of Law no. 1 of 1995. This law, which primarily sets out the rules governing the creation and operation of companies, contains a legislative statement that promotes fair competition among business and prohibits monopolistic business combinations if they result from mergers, consolidations and other acquisitions.

• Indonesia's efforts over the past ten years to deregulate foreign trade and investment regime have substantially increased competition in the Indonesian economy. The Government efforts to carefully deregulate and privatize state owned enterprises in various sectors, such as banking, has also increased competitive forces in the economy.

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2. INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS

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Short/Medium/Long Term

• Indonesia will continue its efforts to promote competition through further deregulation of its economy.

• Indonesia will participate in competition policy dialogues among APEC economies to enhance mutual understanding of competition policy laws.

• Indonesia will review its competition environment for the purpose of identifying areas where policy changes could improve the welfare of its citizens.

• Indonesia will enhance transparency with regard to competition policy.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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1. Current Position

Reforms of Japan's economic structure are now being sought through fuller application of market principles, promoting launch into new business, and technological innovation. The Japanese government, in a series of cabinet decisions, has accordingly made deregulation and active implementation of competition policies its top priority, with a view to rendering the Japanese market more competitive and internationally open by further promoting fair and free competition. In addition to pursuing Antimonopoly Act violations such as bid-rigging and price cartels proactively and rigorously, the government has taken the measures summarized as follows:

• Transparency:

To enhance the transparency of law enforcement and to prevent possible violations, a variety of guidelines are issued and made public internationally. The Fair Trade Commission also publishes and distributes FTC/Japan Views, an English-language publication which reports on the enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act, etc.

• Technical assistance:

The Fair Trade Commission and JICA have conducted training program for personnel at competition authorities in developing economies (including the following four members of APEC: People's Republic of China, Thailand, Malaysia, Republic of Korea). The training programs are scheduled to take place annually for a five-year period, from FY 1994 to FY 1998.

• Exchange of views and information with foreign competition authorities:

Japan has held bilateral meetings for exchange of views with foreign competition authorities annually. (including those of the following three members of APEC: the United States, Canada, and Republic of Korea.)

• Exchange of views and information with foreign competition authorities:

The Conference on Competition Policies among Asian and Oceanic Countries (attended by members of the Asia-Oceanic region, including the 10 APEC members) has been held since 1979.

• Exchange of views and information with foreign competition authorities:

The Fair Trade Commission has established and operates the Information Center on Competition Policies among Asian and Oceanic Countries, which acts as a clearing house for materials outlining the application of competition legislation in, and annual reports by, members of the Conference on Competition Policies among Asian and Oceanic Countries. (including 10 APEC members)

• Developing understanding in the business community:

The Fair Trade Commission periodically holds explanatory sessions to inform industry about the Antimonopoly Act and exchange of views with economic organizations. Companies are being encouraged to develop Antimonopoly Act compliance programs. Handbooks (in English and Japanese) and videos about the Antimonopoly Act are being produced and distributed.

• Other

Regulations that were established in accordance with the types of premiums have been revised, and notifications and application criteria relating to general provisions in premium regulations have been amended. (April 1996)

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1. Objectives

To enhance the competitive environment in the Asia-Pacific region by introducing or maintaining effective and adequate competition policy and/or laws and associated enforcement policies, ensuring the transparency of the above and promoting cooperation among APEC economies, thereby maximizing, inter alia, the efficient operation of markets, competition among producer and traders, and consumer benefits

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II-1 Review respective competition policy and/or laws and their enforcement in terns of transparency

• The Fair Trade Commission will continue to publish and distribute FTC/Japan Views, an English language publication reporting on the enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act, etc.

• Japan will undertake the following measures for more vigorous implementation of competition policy:

• Strengthen the structure of the Fair Trade Commission (in terms of organization and personnel, etc.)

• Together with strengthening ability to enforce the Antimonopoly Act, measures including criminal accusation will be taken to vigorously pursue violations. In addition, to ensure fair competitive order in markets after deregulation, strict measures will be taken against unfair trade practices that cause unjust disadvantages against small and medium-sized businesses and others will be treated severely.

• Prevent anti-competitive administrative guidance through prior coordinations between the ministries and agencies concerned and the Fair Trade Commission.

• Make known to the public, especially trade associations the Antimonopoly Act Guidelines Concerning the Activities of Trade Associations (revised in October 1995) for the purpose of thoroughly preventing the Antimonopoly Act violations by trade associations.

• Issue revised or new guidelines, as appropriate.

• Review of exemption systems from Antimonopoly Act:

In line with a review of the systems permitting the exemption of the Antimonopoly Act for cartels and others under individual laws, 33 of the 47 exemption systems will be abolished or undergo revision of legislation. An effort will be made to limit the scope of four of the exemption systems by the end of fiscal 1998. The other 10 systems will be continue to be reviewed.

Furthermore, necessary studies will be continued and conclusions will be obtained with regard to other exemption cartel systems, etc.

• The required procedures for revocation of designated items will be implemented during fiscal 1996 for all designated items under the resale price maintenance system. With regard to copy righted works for which resale price maintenance exemption are authorized, the scope thereof is to be limited and clarified by the end of fiscal 1997.

• The system for notification of mergers, and acquisition of businesses, etc., the system for reporting of stock holdings, and the system for notification of interlocking directorates will be reviewed from such viewpoints as the fundamental reasoning and purpose of the systems, easing the burden of requirements on companies, ensuring harmonization with international standards, etc.

• The international contract notification system will be considered from the standpoints of economic globalization and easing the burden on business operators and reviewed with a view to abolishing the system in principle. A conclusion regarding this matter will be reached by the end of fiscal 1996.

• Necessary reviews will be made and measures will be taken to lift the ban of holding companies, to the extent consistent with the Antimonopoly policy.

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II-2 Implement technical assistance in regard to policy development, and the constitution and function of enforcement agencies

Short term (1997-2000)

• Personnel training projects relating to competition policy will be implemented as Partners for Progress (PFP) projects.

• Existing competition policy training programs will be improved with a broader range of targeted participants and enhanced content.

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II-3 Establish cooperation arrangements among competition authorities in APEC members

Short/Medium/Long term (1997-2010)

• Continued implementation of annual bilateral exchange of views with foreign competition authorities (as for APEC members, Japan has held annual meetings with United States, Canada, and Republic of Korea)

• Hold the Conference on Competition Policies among Asian and Oceanic Countries periodically.

• Study the feasibility of making information provided by the Information Center on Competition Policies among Asian and Oceanic Countries available on an APEC database on competition policies.

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II-4 Develop understanding in the APEC business community of competition policy and/or laws and administrative procedures

Short term (1997-2000)

• Brief the industrial community on Japan's Antimonopoly Act, and provide exchanges of views with economic organizations.

• Encourage companies to develop Antimonopoly Act compliance programs.

• Update and distribute handbooks (in Japanese and English) and videos on the Antimonopoly Act.

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II-5 Dialogue with International Organizations

Short term (1997-2000)

• Contribute to promote cooperation between APEC and the Conference on Competition Policies among Asian and Oceanic Countries.

• Contribute to foster cooperation between APEC and international organizations such as OECD and UNCTAD.

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KOREA'S INDIVIDUAL ACTION PLAN

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COMPETITION POLICY

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1. Current Status

• Legal and Institutional Mechanisms

• In 1980, Korea established the "monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act" which formed the legal framework of the fair trade rules and regulations.
• In 1981, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) was established under the Economic Planing Board (EPB) as the administrative organization in charge of competition laws and policies.
• In 1994 however, the KFTC was separated from the EPB and elevated into an independent, central administrative agency. In March 1996, the status of the Commission's chairman was elevated from the vice-ministrial level to the ministrial level, while the organization and its staff were enlarged. Thus, the Commission came to be structured to effectively enforce competition policies.

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• Establishment of the Fair Trade Order

• In order to guarantee "free and fair competition," the KFTC places policy priority on prohibiting abuse of market-dominating position, preventing excessive concentration of economic power, and regulating undue collaborative activities and unfair business practices.
• The KFTC enacted the Fair Subcontract Transactions Act in 1984 to establish order in subcontract transactions. Under the act, unfair delays of payment, unreasonable refusals in the receipt of subcontracted goods, and the like are prohibited.
• Since the enactment of the Standardized Contract Act in 1986, the KFTC has taken corrective measures on enterprises that have taken advantage of their market-dominating positions to force unfair stipulations on consumers.

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• Deregulation

• To establish a competitive structure in all industries, the Commission has been exerting efforts to abolish anticompetitive government regulations with respect to market entry, prices, and business operations.

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• Enhancing transparency of policies

• The content of KFTC decisions and judgments on cases are disclosed in judicial precedence reports.
• In order to eradicate anticompetitive trade practices, the KFTC offers and reinforces programs to raise awareness of competition laws among entrepreneurs and consumers.
• The KFTC has exerted efforts to prevent government ministries from adopting new restrictive laws and regulations by reviewing their legislation drafts and requesting that anticompetitive elements be corrected before enactment.
• The KFTC holds seminars on competition law and policy in cooperation with the academia.

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• Strengthening international cooperation

• The KFTC regularly holds annual competition policy meetings with the competition authorities of Japan, France, and the United States in which information is exchanged and constant efforts are made to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
• The KFTC also actively participates in competition policy �� related discussions at APEC and at such international organizations as the OECD and UNCTAD.

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2. Individual Action Plans

1. Review its respective competition policy and/or laws and the enforcement thereof in terms of transparency.

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Short Term (1997~2000)

• Strengthening enforcement of the Fair Trade Act

• The KFTC plans to reduce the areas which are exempted from the application of the Fair Trade Act to a minimum as well as to reduce the scope of granting exceptions to anticompetitive collaborative activities.

• The KFTC plans to strengthen the examination of anticompetitive corporate mergers and to bring up Korean merger examination standards to the international level.

• Strengthening deregulatory functions

• The KFTC will continuously make efforts to eliminate anticompetive elements in existing laws and regulations and to prevent the introduction of new competition �� restricting laws and regulations by intensifying the prior examination of newly established laws and revised laws.

• Enhancing fairness, transparency, and professionalism of KFTC affair procedures

• The KFTC will strive to minimize public inconveniences that may arise in the process of filing complaints, and it will establish a "Consumer Satisfaction Administrative System" to make KFTC affairs more consumer-oriented.

• Beginning in 1997, the KFTC will establish a Fair Trade Monitor System in which fair trade monitors will be chosen from the general public who will be responsible for reporting unfair business practices to the KFTC.

• Also beginning in 1997, the KFTC will build a Fair Trade Information Network System in which the KFTC will provide information of fair trade laws and regulations to the general public through PC network and through which the general public can also file reports of unfair business practices.

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Medium/Long Term (2001~2010)

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• To effectively enforce competition policies, the KFTC will be reorganized and the procedures and methods of law enforcements will be improved.

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2. To implement appropriate technical assistance

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Short Term (1997~2000)

• Based on the experience accumulated from the competition policy training program in Seoul in September 1996, the KFTC will improve on the substance, induce more APEC members' participation and yield more results in the upcoming programs, which the KFTC plans to hold on an annual basis.

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1. To establish cooperation arrangements among competition authorities in APEC members.

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• The KFTC will constantly promote bilateral cooperation with Japan, France, and the US.

• The KFTC will actively participate in exchange of information and dialog us with APEC members to enhance knowledge of competition policies.

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COMPETITION POLICY

1. Current Position

At the moment, Malaysia has no specific Act on Competition or Anti-Trust. The intention to have such a law was first stated in 1993 and efforts have been undertaken to draft a Competition or Trade Practices law which is now in its sixth draft. Nevertheless, the draft has not been tabled as implications and issues or some concerns expressed in having such a law are still under the study of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

As a free enterprise economy, Malaysia encourages healthy competition and a fair play of the market forces of supply and demand. The Malaysian Government has, since the 1980's, embarked on policies of de-regulation and liberalization of the economy. Malaysia is a signatory to the agreements made under GATT or the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is therefore fully committed to the liberalization efforts to dismantle tariff and non-tariff restrictions on trade. In addition, privatization of some public or state-owned enterprises in traditionally monopolistic sector such as electricity, telecommunications, transport and postal services have been carried out. As of this date, over 400 projects have been privatized, including in construction, manufacturing, infrastructure, transportation.

Malaysia currently has about 30 laws to regulate certain activities of enterprises and to protect consumer interests. These include The Companies Act 1965, the Control of Supplies Act 1983, the Food Act 1983, the Trade Descriptions Act 1972, the Direct Sales Act 1993, etc. However, such laws cannot prohibit or control restrictive business practices (RBPs) such as collusive tendering, market or quota allocation, refusal to supply, cartel price fixing, predatory pricing, transfer pricing, etc, including the abuse of market power by dominant enterprises. The Securities Commission also has no anti-trust policies per se with respect to the capital markets. The regulation of public listed companies by the Commission is done primarily with the objective of ensuring investor protection and to ensure that the capital markets are fair, efficient and transparent. The Panel on Take-overs and Mergers, which has been absorbed into the Securities Commission, is bound to observe the Malaysian Code on Take-overs and Mergers 1987. The Code essentially governs situations where there is an acquisition of voting shares in a company such that there is a change in control of the company concerned.

2. Objective

Encourage or maintain effective competition through relevant and adequate policies and laws.

3. Actions

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Short/Medium Term

Malaysia will: -

1. continue to enhance its competitive environment through liberalization, deregulation and privatization policies which recognize the importance of the role of the private sector and of trade and investments, both by local and foreign;
2. study the need and implications in having a competition law, including on national policies such as to promote local industries, small and medium scale enterprises or enterprises of the indigenous community, etc, and not forgetting the concerns of the private sector;
3. seek technical and financial assistance in conducting a seminar or workshop involving the private sector, NGOs and other interested or related government agencies;
4. participate in competition policy dialogues, training sessions/workshops and bilateral discussions among APEC economies to enhance mutual understanding of competition laws and policies.

Long-term Direction

To continually review existing competition policy to identify areas where changes are needed and such changes which bring improvements to the nation will be implemented.

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Current Position

During the past years, Mexico has gone through an intense process of economic changes leading to a more participative economy that has required a revision of the regulatory framework in which economic activity takes place. The Federal Law on Economic Competition (FLEC), which took effect on June 1993, is an integral part of Mexico's new economic policy.

This Law regulates Article 28 of the Constitution regarding economic competition, monopolies and free market participation. Its main objective is to protect the process of competition in the Mexican market and enhance economic efficiency through the prevention and elimination of monopolies, monopolistic practices and other restraints to the efficient operation of markets of goods and services.

At the same time the FLEC created the Federal Competition Commission (FCC) as an agency with technical and operation independence responsible for enforcement.

To achieve its goals the FCC is empowered to:

• conduct investigations of competition violations initiated at the request of interested parties or by the Commission itself;
• issue administrative rulings and assess penalties for non-compliance;
• render advisory opinions regarding competition policy issues; and
• participate in the negotiation of international agreements regarding competition policy.

The FLEC distinguishes two broad categories of illegal behavior: (i) absolute and (ii) relative monopolistic practices.

Absolute monopolistic practices are often referred to as "horizontal practices" and are prohibited "per se". The principal absolute monopolistic practices considered in the Law are the following agreements between competitors: price fixing; output restriction; market division; and bid rigging.

Relative monopolistic practices are often referred to as "vertical practices" and are evaluated under a "rule of reason" because they may imply procompetitive effects as well as anticompetitive effects in the market. The principal relative monopolistic practices considered in the Law are the following: vertical market division; resale price maintenance; tied sales; exclusive dealing; refusal to deal; boycott; and others with similar consequences in the market.

For these practices to be considered illegal, the FLEC requires that the presumed responsible parties must have substantial market power in the relevant market.

Regarding mergers and acquisitions the Law's approach is basically preventive. There is a pre-merger procedure to aid the Commission in detecting anticompetitive mergers. The Commission may prohibit a merger or acquisition if its effect would be to fix prices unilaterally or to limit supply, or could otherwise, facilitate any of the absolute and relative monopolistic practices considered in the FLEC.

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Action Plan

In the short term, Mexico will continue its efforts to foster a free and competitive market, inter alia, by means of:

1. adopting complementary rules and/or guidelines to facilitate the implementation of the existing legal framework. At present, a secondary regulation to the Federal Law of Economic Competition is in the process of elaboration;
2. undertaking periodical evaluations of its competition policy and legislation, particularly in connection with the on-going privatization and deregulation processes, including those of important sectors such as telecommunications, rail transports, basic petrochemicals, natural gas and airport services;
3. ensuring the transparency of its competition laws through the publication of competition laws and regulations, annual reports of the Mexican competition authorities, including policy and enforcement developments. The Federal Competition Commission has already made available on the Internet a "home page" that may be further expanded in the future;
4. pursuing a greater advocacy role of the Mexican competition authority (FCC) in order to deepen the understanding of the competition policy and legislation among the different economic agents, professional associations and the academic community, as well as pursuing a greater advocacy role with other governmental agencies and regulatory bodies;
5. participating in the discussions of international cooperation aspects of competition policy within the framework of:

• OECD's Committee on Competition Law and Policy;
• NAFTA Trade and Competition Working Group;
• FTAA Competition Policy Working Group;
• APEC Competition Policy forum; and
• UNCTAD's work on competition policy;

6. following the 1995 OECD Revised Recommendation concerning cooperation between member countries on anticompetitive practices affecting international trade; and
7. promoting bilateral technical assistance and, where appropriate, the negotiation of bilateral or plurilateral international cooperation agreements with foreign competition authorities in particular those of APEC members.

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��NEW ZEALAND'S INDIVIDUAL ACTION PLAN

COMPETITION POLICY AND DEREGULATION

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For more than a decade successive New Zealand governments have made wide��ranging reforms aimed at increasing the competitiveness and efficiency of the New Zealand economy. The general approach is to avoid industry��specific regulations as much as possible and to rely on general rules which apply across all sectors. These rules include a modem competition law (the Commerce Act 1986) and modern consumer protection laws (including the Fair Trading Act 1986 and the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993). These have been essential for ensuring that repealed government regulation has not been replaced by private restraints. The process of deregulation has been assisted by the presence of these laws.

The reforms have included:

1. the widespread removal of industry��specific regulation with the aim of providing businesses with a clear, consistent operating environment which relies mainly on market forces to allocate resources. These reforms have extended to all sectors of the economy including financial markets, the professions and labour markets.
2. the separation of trading and non-trading functions within government. Most trading functions have been transferred to State-owned enterprises, which have a statutory obligation to operate principally as successful businesses.
3. separation of monopoly and competitive activities in network industries.
4. the privatization of State��owned enterprises which an aim of improving performance.

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New Zealand's policy and laws will be maintained. New Zealand has a consistent, transparent competition policy which recognizes the importance that imports and foreign investment have in constraining market power in the concentrated markets typically found in a small economy. New Zealand also has a modern and effective competition law and a well-resourced expert enforcement agency.

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Short term

1. New Zealand will continue to focus on regulatory reform of utility and essential facility markets. It is currently considering the implications of a Commerce Act case. Telecom Corporation v Clear Communications for the regulatory regime applying to the communications industry and for other natural monopolies that participate in related contestable markets.
2. Parliament is in the process of considering a Government��sponsored bill on the regulation of airports. The bill is aimed at limiting the potential for monopoly pricing by enhancing requirements that airport companies consult before fixing aeronautical charges, coupled with information disclosure requirements that will expose inefficiencies and monopoly pricing and inform the negotiation process.

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Medium Long Term

New Zealand will consider the reform options for essential facilities that are largely owned and operated by local governments and will continue to consider the scope for further privatizations of State-owned businesses and assets.

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Papua New Guinea's Individual Action Plan

Competition Policy

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�� Competition Policy

Formulation of a consumer protection law, introduction of business practices act. National competition policy and appropriate technical assistance and policy development, legislative drafting powers and functions of appropriate enforcing agencies.

�� Implementation and continuous review.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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1. Current Position

In 1980, China's State Council promulgated the Regulations on Development and Protection of Competition, which is China's first specific regulation on competition. Later, several regulations and rules relating to competition were issued and implemented in 1980's. In 1993, the People's Congress of China adopted "The Law of the People's Republic of China for Countering Unfair Competition". The acts of unfair competition prohibited by the law are summed up as follows:

• to deceive consumers by passing off a register trade marks of another person, etc;
• to abuse administrative powers;
• to force others to by goods designated by public utility enterprises or enterprises having monopoly status;
• to make tie-in sales;
• to sell products with prizes attached by fraudulent methods or bribery;
• to damage competitor's reputation by falsehood;
• to squeeze competitors out by selling goods at price below cost; etc.

In addition, "the Law of the People's Republic of China for Protecting Consumer's Rights and Interests" was promulgated in 1993.

Industrial and Commercial Administration of China (ICA) at all level is the agency to enforce the above countering unfair competition law. The concrete punishment rendered against activities of unfair competition include ordering to stop illegal acts, confiscating illegal proceeds; imposing a fine of less than 3 times the amount of illegal proceeds, revoking the business license or being prosecuted for criminal liability.

Up to now, the ICAs have handled more than ten thousand unfair competition cases in China.

China's first anti-trust law and protecting commercial secrets law are in the process of intensive drafting.

2. Objectives

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Short-term (1997-2000):

• Draft and enact the law and regulations concerning anti-monopoly, perfect the legal system, e.g. strengthening the drafting and research work on the anti-trust law;
• Draft and promulgate relevant regulations concerning anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures;
• Enhance the legal exchange concerning the fair competition with other APEC economies or international organizations. Study the advanced experience of other APEC economies;
• Enhance the enforcement and supervision of laws and regulations, e.g. strengthen the supervision on the price, quality and measure. Crack down on the illegal activities of producing and selling fake and inferior commodities, take strong measures against fraudulence and monopoly over price. Protect the producer and consumer's legitimate rights and interests; and
• Enhance the training for relevant personnel.

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Mid-and Long-term (2011-2020):

• Transform the traditional planned economy system into market economy system. Reorganize the state-owned enterprise by way of joint operation, merger and joint stock cooperation in order to make them become the true competitive participants in the market. Set up a market system with unified, opening and fair competition;
• Through the legal and economic methods, regulate the market circulation order, break the regional blockade and sector separation; and
• Further perfect the legal system in order to meet the needs of the Chinese market economy and world economic development.

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TILF AREAS

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COMPETITION POLICY

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Current Position

The Philippines, through constitutional and statutory provisions, encourages competition for a healthier business environment. The Philippine Constitution mandates that the state must protect Philippine enterprises against unfair foreign competition and trade practices. The Constitution also prohibits monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition.

The basic statute which prohibits unfair trade practices, monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade is the Law on Monopolies and Combinations under RA 3247, as amended and the Revised Penal Code as amended by RA 1956. The law deters any person, firm or entity from monopolizing or attempting to monopolize, or from taking part in any conspiracy or combination in the form of trust in restraint of trade or commerce or from restraining free market competition. The objective is to promote efficiency by effectively promoting desirable competition resulting in increased output, faster economic growth and lower prices of goods and services.

Although the country has statutes which prohibit unfair trade practices, the Philippines does not have a comprehensive anti-trust legislation.

Alongside, the Philippines pursues outward-oriented and free market strategies e.g., trade and investment liberalization, deregulation and privatization directed at leveling the economic and business playing field.

time line	1997-2000	2001-2020
Obj.	enhance the competitive environment in the Asia-Pacific region by introducing or maintaining effective and adequate competition policy and/or laws and associated enforcement policies, ensuring transparency and promote cooperation in APEC
��	The Philippines will review existing laws on competition with the end in view of improving the competition environment. To this end, the Philippines will, among others, endeavor to enact an anti-trust, anti-monopoly law, including the establishment of a Fair Trade Commission to enforce competition laws.	The Philippines will continue to review and further improve its competition policy regime.
��	The Philippines will also: avail of technical assistance within APEC to review and develop its competition policies and laws. participate actively in dialogues, exchange of information among APEC economies to ensure transparency and enhance mutual understanding of national competition laws and policies.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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Singapore's Competitive Regime

Singapore does not maintain competition laws but depends on its free and open market to ensure a competitive environment in the domestic economy. For services which the Government has traditionally been the sole provider, the Singapore Government has commenced a programme of corporatization and privatization to subject the provision of such services to competition and market discipline. For example:

1. corporatization of broadcasting: The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), the former national broadcasting agency, was corporatized on 1 October 1994 into a number of privatized successor companies (which compete among themselves), regulated by the Singapore Broadcasting Authority.
2. Privatization of the telecommunications sector: In 1992, the former Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) was corporatized, and the reconstituted TAS is now the regulatory authority while Singapore Telecom (ST) is the public telecommunication licensee.

Although ST was given a 15-year monopoly ending in the year 2007, Singapore will introduce competition before the expiry of this period of exclusive rights. This includes allowing competition in the provision of radio-based services from 1997 and wire-based services from 2000.

Under the WTO negotiations for telecommunication services, Singapore has made broad pro-competitive commitments in the areas of interconnection, competitive safeguards, transparency in regulations and independence of regulators.

3. Privatization of power and gas: The Singapore Public Utilities Board (PUB) was corporatized in September 1995 with the reconstituted PUB taking the role of the regulatory authority and Singapore Power (SP) as the holding company of 2 power generation companies, 1 transmission and distribution company, 1 electricity supply company and 1 gas company. Public listing of SP is expected to take place within the next few years.

The aim of this structure is to introduce competition in electricity generation and supply.

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COMPETITION POLICY

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OBJECTIVE

APEC economies will enhance the competitive environment in the Asia-Pacific region by introducing or maintaining effective and adequate competition policy and/or laws and associated enforcement policies, ensuring the transparency of the above, and promoting cooperation among APEC economies, thereby maximizing, inter alia, the efficient operation of markets, competition among producers and traders, and consumer benefits.

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GUIDELINES

Each APEC economy will:

1. review its respective competition policy and/or lass and the enforcement thereof in terms of transparency;
2. implement as appropriate technical assistance in regard to policy development, legislative drafting, and the constitution, powers and functions of appropriate enforcement agencies; and
3. establish appropriate cooperation arrangements among APEC economies.

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(a-b) Current position and policy context:

1. Legal Framework

The three principle federal antitrust laws are the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. 禮禮1-7; the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C.禮禮12-27; and the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.禮禮41-51. Numerous other federal statutes, however, govern the antitrust treatment of particular sectors of the economy. Finally, 49 states have enacted antitrust laws, which are similar to the federal laws.

2. Objectives of the Law

The Supreme Court stated in Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 4 (1958), that "[t] he Sherman Act was designed to be a comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade. It rests on the premise that the unrestrained interaction of competitive forces will yield the best allocation of our economic resources, the lowest prices, the highest quality and the greatest material progress, while at the same time providing an environment conducive to the preservation of our democratic political and social institutions."

Other objectives have at times been expressed in earlier periods in the history of U.S. antitrust law enforcement: fairness, dispersion of economic power, and distribution of economic opportunities. A strong consensus currently exists, however, that promotion of economic efficiency and maximization of consumer welfare are the appropriate objectives of U.S. antitrust policy.

3. Scope of Application

From the beginning of U.S. antitrust history in 1890, there has been a strong presumption against exempting economic sectors from the application of the antitrust laws. Accordingly, the vast bulk of U.S. commerce is subject to antitrust discipline, and no sector is totally excluded from the antitrust laws. Over time, however, some economic sectors or types of behavior have been partially exempted from the antitrust laws, through explicit statutory authorization or judicial decisions based on statutory interpretation, as described in the next section.

The U.S. antitrust laws apply to anti-competitive business conduct that affects U.S. domestic or foreign commerce. Under the effects doctrine, jurisdiction exists for import commerce when there are actual or intended effects on the U.S. market; for non-import commerce, when there is a "direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect" on U.S. trade and commerce, or on U.S. export trade and commerce.

4. Exceptions to the Scope of Application

Exceptions to the application of the antitrust laws exist for certain activities in some sectors. In many cases a specialized regulatory agency with sector-specific responsibilities applies competition rules analogous to the federal antitrust laws, and the antitrust agencies retain an advisory, competition advocacy role. Sectors that retain some form of exemption from, or special treatment under, the antitrust laws include: agricultural cooperatives; fishermen's cooperatives; banks and other financial institutions; securities and commodities industries; insurance (to the extent it is regulated by state law); newspapers; professional sports; interstate motor, rail, and water carriers; ocean shipping; organized labor; and air transportation. The clear trend is to reduce these exceptions, which are narrowly construed by the courts; as noted above, the vast bulk of U.S. commerce remains subject to antitrust disciplines.

The federal government and its instrumentalities are immune from the antitrust laws. Under the state action doctrine, private action taken pursuant to a clearly articulated policy of one of the U.S. states and subject to the active supervision of the state is immunized from antitrust liability.

Congress has enacted special laws relating to export activities. The jurisdictional reach of the U.S. antitrust laws does not extend to U.S. export activities unless they have a "direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect" on trade or commerce within the U.S., on U.S. import trade or commerce, or on the export trade of exporters in the U.S. The principal effect of the export-related legislation in this area is to provide greater advance certainty regarding the federal and state antitrust implications of export conduct.

5. General Prohibitions
   

Sherman Act 禮1 states that "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal." Sherman Act 禮2 makes it unlawful to "monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations." The Federal Trade Commission Act 禮5 prohibits "unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce."

6. Prohibited Behavior, Including Definitions
   

The broad terms of the Sherman Act, which have been read into section 5 of the FTC Act, prohibit agreements or understandings, express or implied, between two or more persons or firms that unreasonably restrain trade in any product or service. To determine whether an agreement unreasonably restrains competition, courts have applied on of two methods of analysis, depending on the type of agreement at issue. Certain agreements (called "per se" offenses") are deemed to be so inherently anticompetitive that they are always illegal, regardless of the intent of the parties or the actual effect of the agreements on competition. These agreements include agreements between competitors to fix prices or the terms and conditions of credit and sales, to allocate customers or territories, not to deal with any person or persons ("group boycotts"), and, in certain circumstances, to sell one product conditioned on an agreement by the buyer to purchase a second, distinct product ("tying"). Resale price maintenance is also per se unlawful.

The offense of unlawful monopolization has two elements: possession of market power in the relevant market, and the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power, as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident. Market power has been defined as the power to control prices or exclude competition, and market share is the most important factor in measuring market power, with shares exceeding 70 percent usually considered sufficient for a finding of market power, and shares of less than 40 percent generally insufficient. For the second element, courts have required a showing of anticompetitive or predatory conduct �� efforts to exclude rivals on some basis other than efficiency. Examples of such conduct include below cost-pricing, filing of baseless litigation against competitors, or denial of access to an essential facility.

The offense of attempted monopolization has three elements: specific intent to control prices or destroy competition, predatory or anticompetitive conduct directed at the unlawful objective, and a "dangerous probability of success" in achieving a monopoly in the relevant market.

7. Exceptions to Prohibited Practices
   

Potentially anticompetitive practices which do not fall into the per se category (exclusive dealing or requirements contracts and other non-price vertical restraints, cooperative marketing activities, etc.) are analyzed under a "rule of reason" standard, which requires an in-depth analysis of the effect on competition in the relevant market. In rule of reason analysis, competitive intent and effect are weighed along with the business justification of the challenged activities to determine their legality. It should be noted that a rule of reason analysis does not "exempt" prohibited conduct, but rather determines whether conduct which is not "per se" prohibited should fall within the prohibitions of the antitrust laws.

8. Rules Applicable to Economic Concentrations (mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, etc.)

Clayton Act 禮7 prohibits mergers and acquisitions "in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, (where) the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly��" Mergers and acquisitions may also be challenged under sections 1 an 2 of the Sherman Act and section 5 of the FTC Act.

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, notification to the FTC and Department of Justice is required before the consummation of an acquisition of stock or assets exceeding specified size of firm and size of transaction thresholds. Generally, premerger notification is required if all of the following conditions are met:

1. either the acquiring person or the acquired person is engaged in interstate commerce,
2. one of the parties has annual net sales or total assets of $100 million or more, and the other has annual net assets or total sales of $10 million or more, and
3. as a result of the acquisition, the acquiring party will hold either (i) voting securities or assets of the acquired firm valued at more than $15 million, or (ii) 50% or more of the voting securities or assets of a firm with annual net sales or total assets of $25 million or more.

For transactions other than cash tender offers or acquisitions of bankrupt firms, the waiting period prior to consummation is 30 days. When a second request for additional information has been issued by the antitrust authorities within that period, the merger cannot be consummated for 20 days after compliance with the request (in practice, the time it takes to respond to a second request can very widely depending on the scope of the request and the merging parties' decision as to how quickly to respond, among other factors). Cash tender offers and acquisitions of bankrupt firms have a shorter waiting period �� 15 days (plus 10 days after compliance with a request for additional information). The agencies' enforcement policy is outlined in the 1992 Horizontal Merger Guidelines. If an agency concludes that a proposed merger would violate the antitrust laws, it must apply to a court to enjoin a merger prior to its consummation.

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9. Agencies Responsible for Law and Policy

9.1 Structure

The two federal agencies responsible for enforcing the antitrust laws are the Department of Justice (DOJ), through its Antitrust Division, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent agency established in 1914. The FTC is composed of five Commissioners appointed for seven-year terms by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate; the FTC is not part of the Executive Branch. A clearance procedure between the two agencies ensures that the same parties or conduct are not subject to investigation by both agencies at the same time.

The antitrust laws are enforced principally through proceedings brought in the federal courts, either by the Department of Justice, by private parties, or by attorneys general of the various states. The FTC conducts its own internal administrative proceedings to adjudicate violations of the antitrust laws; but in those cases as well, the FTC must go before the courts to obtain preliminary injunctive relief or to enforce violations of its remedial orders. The courts thus have a major role in the enforcement and interpretation of the U.S. antitrust laws, although the vast majority of enforcement actions brought by the DOJ and FTC are settled prior to contested proceedings in the courts.

The state governments also play an important role in antitrust enforcement: each of the fifty states may sue to enforce federal antitrust laws when an antitrust violation causes injury to the state itself or to its citizens. In addition, 49 states have their own antitrust laws, which may be enforced through suits brought by states in the state courts.

9.1 Functions and Responsibilities; 9.3 Powers

The DOJ is an Executive Branch Department; it enforces the antitrust laws (Sherman and Clayton Acts, but not the FTC Act) through criminal prosecutions and civil law suits in the federal courts. The DOJ has sole authority to prosecute federal criminal violations.

The FTC is an independent regulatory agency; it enforces the antitrust laws (Clayton Act, FTC Act provisions on "unfair methods of competition", but not the Sherman Act) principally through administrative proceedings. The FTC also enforces provisions in the FTC Act that protect consumers against unfair or deceptive acts or practices. In addition to its adjudicative authority, the FTC has the power to promulgate industry or trade regulation rules primarily for consumer protection matters; in some cases, violation of such rules may result in civil monetary penalties. The FTC's ultimate recourse for enforcement of its orders is through the federal courts.

Both agencies have the power to compel testimony and the production of evidence for use in antitrust investigations, subject to strict rules for the protection of confidentiality. The agencies' powers with respect to mergers are noted in section 8 above.

10. Procedures (administrative and/or legal)
    

As noted above, the antitrust laws are enforced principally through proceedings brought in the federal courts. The FTC conducts its own administrative proceedings to adjudicate violations of the antitrust laws; but in those cases as well, the FTC must go before the courts to obtain preliminary injunctive relief or to enforce violations of its remedial orders. For federal criminal prosecutions, standard criminal procedures �� including the grand jury and use of immunized testimony �� are used by the DOJ. In DOJ criminal prosecutions, defendants may request a jury trial; in DOJ civil proceedings, ordinary rules of civil procedure apply, but defendants are not entitled to a jury trial.

11. Systems for administrative and/or legal sanctions (including possible civil

damages)

Criminal penalties: criminal violations of the Sherman Act are punishable by fines of up to $10 million for corporate defendants and $350,000 for other defendants. Fines may also be set at double the gross amount gained from violation of the law or lost by the victim. Criminal violations of the Sherman Act are also punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.

Injunctive relief: federal courts have the power to order a party to do or refrain from doing a particular act, which can include prohibiting repetition of past violations. Such orders may be entered either after a contested proceeding or by consent of the parties. The DOJ can obtain injunctive relief only through the courts; the FTC can issue cease and desist orders, following either the respondent's consent to the FTC's finding of facts or after an administrative trial on the merits, enforceable by court-imposed civil penalties.

Damages: the private cause of action for violations of the antitrust laws is a critical component of the U.S. antitrust system, and is independent of any government action. If a private suit follows a government action under the Sherman or Clayton Acts in which the defendant has been found liable, however, the plaintiff may use the earlier judgment as prima facie evidence of a violation. Private parties can obtain injunctive relief and are generally entitled to treble damage relief for violations of the antitrust laws, as well as recovery of reasonable attorney's fees. The U.S. Government can also use for treble damages to recover for injury to its business or property resulting from an antitrust violation.

Other relief: courts can order the restoration of competitive conditions, including divestiture of assets and rescission of contracts. Courts have broad power to order injunctive relief barring prospective or ongoing violations of the antitrust laws. Specific financial penalties, imposed by the courts, exist for failure to comply with pre-merger notification rules. The FTC has broad discretion in fashioning remedial cease and desist orders, enforceable by court imposed civil penalties for non-compliance.

Remedies available under the state antitrust laws vary, but are generally similar to federal antitrust law provisions; in addition, many states provide for criminal penalties for violations of their antitrust laws.

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12. Appellate Powers

All DOJ and some FTC enforcement actions are brought in the federal district courts and are subject to normal appellate review in the federal circuit courts of appeals. FTC administrative decisions are appealable directly to the federal courts of appeals. Private suits are also brought in the courts and subject to appellate review. In rare cases the Supreme Court exercises its discretionary jurisdiction to review the judgment of a federal appeals court in an antitrust case.

(c-d) outline of how the economy intends to move towards te bogor targets and major contributions to Bogor targets

1. The United States will continue to ensure the transparency of federal competition laws and enforcement policies through publication of antitrust laws, enforcement policy guidelines of the federal enforcement agencies, judicial opinions related to antitrust matters, advisory opinions or "business review letters," annual reports of the antitrust agencies, and public statements concerning enforcement policy by senior policy officials. Information regarding enforcement actions taken by the agencies and appellate judicial opinions are already available on the Internet.
   
2. The United States will continue its strong commitment to effective enforcement of the antitrust laws and to procompetitive regulatory reform. The federal enforcement agencies do not discriminate in the enforcement of the antitrust laws on the basis of nationality of the parties. Foreign firms or individuals have access to the U.S. enforcement agencies for information and advice. Foreign complainants also have access to the enforcement agencies to present evidence of alleged anticompetitive conduct in violation of the antitrust laws and to the courts to seek redress for alleged injuries therefrom.
   
3. United States enforcement agencies will continue to apply the antitrust laws to the broadest range of economic activity possible under the laws, and to reevaluate the appropriateness of any exceptions to the coverage of the antitrust laws. The agencies will continue their role as advocates of competitive outcomes in the regulatory reform process.
   
4. The United States will enforce its competition laws to ensure the US markets are free of harmful unilateral and concerted anticompetitive private conduct. Anticompetitive conduct that creates or maintains monopoly power will be investigated and pursued to the full extent of the law.
   
5. The United States strongly believes that national legislation covering restrictive agreements, anticompetitive conduct that creates or maintains monopoly power, and mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, along with appropriate and effective investigatory instruments and penalties, are essential elements of a competition policy designed to ensure the efficient operation of markets, competition among producers and traders, and consumer welfare. Access to the judicial system, transparency, and non-discrimination are also essential to a fair and effective competition policy.

Technical Assistance

6. The United States has had an active bilateral technical assistance program, has participated in and supported multilateral efforts through the OECD and elsewhere, and will continue to provide assistance to the extent of available resources. Efforts have focused on furthering a culture of competition and sound economic analysis through exchanges of personnel, participation in seminars organized by international organizations, on-site visits to advise on particular issues, and assistance from the federal competition law enforcement agencies in the drafting of laws and regulations and, to the extent permitted by law, in the conduct of specific investigations.

Cooperation

7. The United States is a strong advocate of effective cooperation in the enforcement of competition policy. The U.S. has bilateral cooperation agreements with Canada, Australia, Germany, and the European Communities. The U.S. recently enacted legislation which would allow for even greater cooperation, including the exchange of confidential information on a reciprocal basis, pursuant to mutual antitrust assistance agreements to be negotiated with partners demonstrating an equivalent commitment to effective enforcement of competition laws and protection of confidential business information.
   
8. The United States participates actively in several international fora addressing cooperation in competition policy, including:

• the APEC competition group
• the NAFTA Trade and Competition Working Group
• the FTAA Competition Policy Working Group
• the OECD's Committee on Competition Law and Policy
• the work of UNCTAD related to competition policy

U.S. antitrust agencies comply with the terms of the OECD's revised 1995 recommendation on cooperation between member countries on anticompetitive practices affecting international trade, and have followed the notification practice called for by that recommendation in certain situations involving non-OECD APEC economies.

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DEREGULATION

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Current Position

As part of its competition policy, Australia has laid down principles and processes for legislation review.

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Guiding Principle

The guiding principle in review is that legislation should not restrict competition unless it can be demonstrated that:

• the benefits of the restriction to the community as a whole outweigh the costs; and

• the objectives of the legislation can only be achieved by restricting competition.

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Process

Australia's Federal, State and Territory governments have agreed to develop a timetable by June 1996 for the review and, where appropriate, reform of all existing legislation that restricts competition by the year 2000 to ensure compliance with the guiding principle. Proposals for new legislation that restricts competition must be accompanied by evidence that the legislation is consistent with the above principles.

Once existing legislation has been reviewed, each government is committed to systematically reviewing the legislation at least once every ten years. This regulation review exercise, by examining the objectives of legislation, will promote the transparency of Australia's regulatory regime, and, by contributing to a more open and competitive economy, will help to eliminate trade and investment distortion arising from domestic regulations.

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Principles

As noted above, Australia has developed principles for deregulation, which balance competition and other public interest considerations.

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Annual reports

Each government will publish an annual report on its progress towards achieving the above objective.

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Objective

To promote the transparency of regulatory regimes and eliminate trade and investment distortion arising from domestic regulations which not only impede free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region but also are more trade and/or investment restricting than necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective.

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Australia will:

Participate in policy dialogue between APEC economies about experiences in deregulation, including the use of individual case studies; and participate in regular dialogue with the business community, including a possible APEC symposium.

Use this dialogue to develop APEC principles and 'best practice' for domestic deregulation.

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Examples of deregulation programs:

Telecommunications

From July 1997 the Australian telecommunications industry will be subject to full and open competition. There will be no hurdles on entry to the telecommunications market and open access arrangements will be established for carriers and service providers.

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DEREGULATION

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The Government of Brunei Darussalam is undertaking and will continue to undertake steps to eliminate or reduce the negative impact of any domestic regulations which impede free and open trade and investment. The current five-year National Development Plan aims to diversity the economy through broadening the industrial and commercial base, including undertaking liberalisation and deregulation measures. A number of public services in the telecommunications and transportation sectors have recently been privatised and other services may also transferred to licensed private operators.

Brunei Darussalam will endeavour to deregulate whenever appropriate.

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Current Status

Canada has a modem, transparent and open standards and regulatory system, and is an active participant in international standardization fora. Information on standards development activities is publicly available, and participation on standards development bodies is open to both Canadians and non-residents. Proposed regulations are published in advance and subject to public comment.

It is the policy of both the Government and Canada's National Standards System to develop regulations, standards and conformity measures that are, to the extent possible, consistent with international requirements and/or practices. As a consequence, many Canadian standards in key sectors are already based on, or consistent with, international standards or requirements.

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Individual Actions

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1. Regulatory Reform:

In 1992, the Government of Canada launched a regulatory reform initiative to enhance the competitiveness of Canadian firms by eliminating, consolidating, simplifying and/or harmonizing regulations. A key objective was to reduce regulatory burden and compliance costs for domestic and foreign producers in a manner consistent with the principles of sustainable development. As a direct result, by mid-1995, more than 150 federal regulations were revoked and another 170 revised. It is expected that, by the end of 1996, an additional 100 regulations will be revoked and 200 more will be significantly revised.

A second initiative, "The Priority Regulatory Review". Is intended to improve efficiency in six priority sectors in consultation with producers and other stakeholders. These sectors are biotechnology; health, food and therapeutic products: mining; automotive and auto parts manufacturing; forest products and aquaculture.

In a third initiative, The Priority Regulator Review, major rederai regulatory department and agencies must meet new "quality assurance standards" governing the way they regulate by December 1996. Audits will be conducted to verity conformity with these new standards.

Bill C-62, The Regulatory Efficiency Act, is expected to be modified and reintroduced into the House of Commons during the fall of 1996. The Act is intended to help federal agencies regulate more efficiently and effectively without reducing the public protection that regulations are intended to provide. It encourages partnerships between regulators, businesses and the public designed to encourage sensible regulation conducive to business growth thereby enhancing Canada's global competitiveness.

The Act would allow regulated businesses and individuals to make proposals for achieving the goals of existing regulations through alternative compliance plans designed to reflect changing realities, such as new products or processes, or special circumstances that impact on regulated parties. Compliance plans would have to meet the goals of existing regulations, and conform with principles of sustainable development and protection of health and safety in order to comply with the Act. The Act contains stringent procedural safeguards to ensure openness and accountability in its implementation �� including requirement for public consultation.

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Chile has privatized most of the public utilities, and is promoting private investment in infrastructure. In general, there are no barriers to private investment deriving from regulatory regimes.

An important objective is to review regulatory regimes for promoting private investment and competition. Chile is trying to implement pro-competitive regulatory frameworks for the public utilities or natural monopolies.

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�. Objective (a) �� to promote transparency of regulatory regimes

Chile will:

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Short/medium term (1997-2005)

• modify regulatory laws for water companies, allowing private investment and protecting consumers. This law should be approved no later than early 1997.

• improve regulatory rules for the electricity sector, promoting competition in generation and bringing new forms of energy to Chile, such as natural gas.

• draft a new law for ports and airports, allowing the private participation in a competitive environment.

• review all regulatory frameworks to make them more pro-competitive.

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Chile will:

Short/medium/log term (1997-2010) Pending.

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Deregulation

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1. Heading Statement
   

Since the 1980s Chinese Taipei has been implementing policies designed for economic liberalization and internationalization; efforts have been made to remove unnecessary regulations that domestic industries faced. In conjunction with its WTO accession, Chinese Taipei has gone further in opening up its domestic markets. This part of the individual action plan will place emphasis on the legal changes to effect deregulation measures, in order to provide more complete explanations about the content, public announcements, and dates of implementation of these deregulation measures in related areas. As for the details and future objectives of Chinese Taipei's liberalization measures in each area, please refer to the contents of each area in this IAP.

To conform to the APEC principle of transparency, there are channels available for making enquiries about the deregulation measures taken by Chinese Taipei. Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei would also provide relevant concrete, complete information and publications for the reference of APEC members.

To accelerate the attainment of the APEC goal of trade and investment liberalization and to carry out regulatory reform, Chinese Taipei in 1995 proposed the "Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center" (APROC) national reconstruction plan. Divided into short-term, mid-term, and long-term, the APROC plan is to gradually implement the following processes (1) promoting trade and investment liberalization; (2) reducing entry and exit barriers for natural persons; (3) relaxing limitations on the inward and outward transfer of capital; and (4) establishing a legal environment suited for a society with advanced information technology under five general principles including "Competitive policy in prime and industrial policy in aiding." These and other concrete measures will facilitate the smooth flow of domestic and foreign personnel, goods, capital, labor services, and information and eventually raise the level of Chinese Taipei's economic liberalization and internationalization.

The deregulatory and liberalization measures currently being taken by Chinese Taipei are all in accord with the goals of the Bogor Declaration, and the actual pace and schedule of the implementation of each stage are in full compliance with the objectives and guidelines of the Osaka Action Agenda. In the future, Chinese Taipei will continue to follow the objectives stated in the Bogor Declaration, eliminate in stages all unnecessary trade and investment barriers, promote trade and investment liberalization throughout the Asia-Pacific region, reinforce the multilateral trade system, and actively seek broader plans for cooperation and development among all member economies.

2. Current Position

1. Deregulation that has been undertaken

To prepare for its entry into WTO and achieve its own APROC goals, in recent years Chinese Taipei, according to each stage of the trade and investment liberalization plan, has gradually been deregulating or liberalizing all unnecessary regulations over each industry, so as to enable sustainable development of each industry. A brief outline of the contents, public announcements, and timelines for several already-implemented deregulatory measures is given below.

With respect to privatization, Chinese Taipei began privatizing state-run industries in 1989. To date, this includes state-run enterprises under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other domestic governmental agencies that have been released to private management. By 1996, six state-run enterprises (Chung Kuo Insurance Co., Ltd., Yangming Marine Co., China Petrochemical Development Corp., China Steel Corp., BES Engineering Corp., and the Liquidized Petroleum Supply Administration) have been privatized. At present, there are still 44 state-run enterprises whose plans for privatization are under way. Of these, 34 have already-determined privatization timetables; products over which such enterprises have held exclusive privileges are undergoing deregulation process.

With respect to legal regulations concerning service industries, at present the first stage of the liberalization plan has already been completed. Below is a brief description of concrete liberalization measures being undertaken in the areas of transportation and storage, telecommunications, finance, and industrial and commercial service industries:

• Transportation and storage

• Liberalization of land transport

1. In November 1995, the draft revision of "Highway Law" was completed and is included in the package legislation for Chinese Taipei's WTO accession. Three areas of the auto and transport industries - car rental, ordinary trucking, and container trucking �� will be open as to foreign investment and operation, and the compound air/sea transport business will be allowed after the WTO accession.
2. In May 1995, restrictions on offering passenger transport services on national highways were lifted, and the right to use the highways was opened to free competition by private operators.

• Liberalization of air transport

1. In April. 1995, the "Export on Board Courier Area" was established at Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport, and in December of that year the "Express Handling Unit" (EHU) was set up. In June 1996, the "Import on Board Courier Operations" was incorporated into the above-mentioned special areas, and the "Regulations Governing Customs Clearance for Express Cargoes" and related laws were revised in order to increase the efficiency with which goods shipped express can pass through customs.
2. In September 1996, the revision of the "Regulations Governing the Civil Air Transport Enterprises" was passed. This relaxed the regulations over the operation of private transport businesses, such as the helicopter transportation business, and it simplified the related licensing application procedures for these businesses.

• Liberalization of sea transport

1. In July, 1994, restrictions against employing foreign sailors over the rank of deck officer and engineer officers on vessels registered in Chinese Taipei were lifted. However, any vessel can maintain foreign employees not more than half of the total crew.
2. In March, 1995, rights of passage and stopover were granted for Maersk lines, Yang Ming lines, and Wan Hai lines, to operate their around-island transshipment business.
3. In May, 1995, plans for an off-shore transport and shipping center were completed; under the premise that goods that "do not pass customs do not pass the border," this will permit the development of container transshipment and simplify processing.
4. In July, 1995, the "Regulations of Security and Inspection" were revised. This changed the current requirement for "universal examination" during ship clearance investigations to "selective examination," thus increasing the efficiency with which ships pass in and out of harbors.
5. In August 1995, the "Shipping Law" was revised. This abolished preferential regulations enjoyed by Chinese Taipei shipping companies with regard to wharf construction by commercial harbor management agencies, container feeder stations, and rental of transshipment facilities in order to conform to the principles of national treatment, international norms, and other principles of liberalization.
6. In December, 1995, the "Law on Commercial Ports" was revised. This removed the preferential rights that Chinese Taipei transport companies and container transport companies had enjoyed in terms of renting and investing in harbor facilities and gave foreign legal persons equal treatment.
7. In February, 1996, the "Regulations Governing Implementation of Automatic Customs Clearance of Cargo" were revised. These removed the requirement that written reports and other documentation must accompany goods after being released by way of no-document review no-cargo examination in order to simplify customs procedures.
8. In October, 1996, the "Ship Law" was revised. This increased the ratio of permitted foreign investment in Chinese Taipei registered ships from one-third to one-half.

• Telecommunications

• In accordance with the APROC plan, Chinese Taipei will open its telecommunication services market in three stages. From November 1994 to June 1995, it already opened its Type 2 value-added network services sector and its public CT-2 in the Type 1 basic telecom services category.

• In February, 1996, the amendment and legislation of the "Telecommunications Law", "Organizational Statute of the Directorate General of Telecommunications, Ministry of Transportation and Communications," and "Statute of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd." Were completed. That completely lifted the upper limit of the investment by foreign companies in Chinese Taipei for value-added network services. Moreover, it allowed joint foreign and domestic investment in and operation of basic telecommunication services, and it further broadened the scope of telecommunications value-added network services. However, the upper limit of the aforementioned foreign investment in jointly operated basic telecommunication services is kept at 20%.

• In May 1996, the "Regulations Governing Mobile Telecommunications" were proclaimed. These allow business operation in the areas of mobile telephones, radio paging, trunked radio, and mobile data communications. At present the assessment of licenses to be awarded is under way, and in the future we will continue engaging in the third stage of liberalizing telecommunications services.

• Financial Sector

• To give impetus to its plan of becoming the Asia-Pacific Regional Financial Center, Chinese Taipei's measures designed to liberalize the securities market are as follows:

1. In August 1995, the "Regulation Governing the Standards for Incorporation of Securities Firms" was revised. This abolished the requirement that foreign securities firms must first set up a representative office for a full year before they could establish a branch organization in Chinese Taipei, and it abolished the requirement that the branch organizations be founded on the principle of equality and mutual benefit.
2. In December 1995, the amount that individual specialized foreign investment organizations could invest in the domestic stock market was increased from US$200,000,000 to US$400,000,000.
3. In January, 1996, all restrictions on outward remittance of capital by foreign investors in the domestic stock market were lifted.
4. In February, 1996, the "Guidelines for the Offering and Issuance of Securities by Foreign Issuers" were enacted. These allowed foreigners to come to Taiwan and issue valuable securities to raise capital, and they promote the internationalization of the money market.
5. In March, 1996, the regulation restricting foreign investment in securities investment and trust companies to 49% was lifted.
6. In March, 1996, the "Regulations Governing Securities Investment by Overseas Chinese and Foreign Investors and Procedures for Remittance" were revised. These raised the respective ceilings for individual and collective foreign investment organization investment in the stocks of a single publicly-traded company to 7.5% and 20% (in October, 1996, these ceilings will be raised to 10% and 25%), abolished the overall US$7,500,000,000 limit on direct overseas Chinese and foreign investment in securities, and comprehensively allowed investment into the domestic securities market by all overseas Chinese and foreign natural and legal persons.

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• Measures taken to liberalize the insurance market

1. In January, 1995, the "Regulation Governing Insurance Agents, Brokers, and Adjustors" was announced. This relaxed the requirements for foreign insurance agents, brokers, and adjustors applying to set up branch offices in Chinese Taipei, and it lowered the operation experience requirement from more than ten years to more than five years.
2. In June, 1995, the revision of "The Guidelines for the Screening and Approval of the Establishment of Foreign Insurance Liaison Offices" was announced. This relaxed the requirements for foreign insurance companies in setting up liaison offices.
3. In July, 1995, revisions of "The Criteria for Approving Foreign Insurance Enterprises and the Governing Regulations" and "The Insurance Company Establishment Criteria" were announced. These relaxed the requirements for setting up insurance companies and adding branch offices.

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• Measures taken to liberalize the banking industry

1. In March 1995, the authorized foreign exchange banks' overbought and oversold positions were raised in order to expand the size of the foreign exchange market, and since July 1996, the said banks may set their own foreign exchange positions with the consent of the Central Bank of China.
2. In 1995, the foreign liability ceilings of authorized banks were raised three times. After the passage of the "Central Bank of China Act," the current foreign liability ceilings system will be replaced by a reserve requirements system.
3. In August 1995, the "Value Added Tax Law" was revised. This eliminated the levying of taxes on derivative financial products, corporate bonds, bank debenture, and interbank call loan transactions.
4. Since August 1995, local banks and branches of foreign banks have been permitted to engage in the business of underwriting and certifying short-term bills.
5. Since August 1995, branches of foreign banks have been permitted to engage in the trading of government bonds for their own accounts.
6. In December 1995, the "Trust Law" was enacted. This established a trust system in order to facilitate the development of new kinds of financial products.

• In the area of liberalization of foreign exchange regulation, Chinese Taipei is proceeding in the spirit of "Free in principle and managed by exception," with the expectation that Chinese Taipei can come closer to achieving the objective of liberalization. The relevant deregulatory measures in this area are described below:

1. In August 1995, the "Statute for Foreign Exchange Regulation" was revised. This implements the progressive liberalization of foreign exchange.
2. In August 1995, the "Regulation Governing Report on Foreign Exchange Receipt and Disbursement or Transactions" was announced. This simplifies procedures for converting foreign currency, and since that December the amount a company may freely convert per year was increased to US$20,000,000.
3. Beginning in December 1995, foreign currency exchange brokers have been permitted to come to Taiwan to set up branches or subsidiaries or to participate in joint ventures with no restrictions on foreign shareholding ratio.
4. Beginning in January 1996, foreign exchange forward transactions between the New Taiwan Dollar and foreign currencies were changed to a negative listing to expand the scope of the foreign exchange business. Beginning in July 1996, the term limit on such forward exchange contracts was removed.

• Business service

• In April 1996, the "Rules Governing the Hiring of Foreigners by Local Lawyers" was promulgated. In coordination with the revision of the "Employment Service Law," this will be enacted after entry into WTO, will protect the status of foreigners hired in Taiwan, and will simplify the certification procedures for such foreigners.

• In January, 1996, the "Regulations Governing the Hiring of Foreigners with Specialized and Technical Skills by State-Run and Private Transport Enterprises," was revised to remove the limitation on the ratio of foreigners permitted to work in certain industries, as well as numerical restrictions.

Regarding regulations on investments, in recent years Chinese Taipei has progressively adopted liberal, open policies on direct investment by foreigners, and at present it has taken several measures to encourage foreigners to invest in Chinese Taipei. In July 1996, the "Negative List for Investment by Overseas Chinese and Foreign Nationals" (this lists areas where investments by overseas Chinese or foreign nationals are prohibited or limited) was revised and published. To stimulated investment, this changed Type 1 telecommunications industries, real estate industries (buying, selling, and leasing), and land development industries from the "prohibited category" to the "restricted category" entirely removed Type 2 telecommunications industries and oil refining from the Negative List, and also simplified review procedures for foreign investment.

In July 1995, the first stage of the revision of the "Customs Import Tariff" was completed, thereby substantially reducing tariffs on imports. As for customs procedures, Chinese Taipei is engaged in the reform of customs administration for imported goods, removing unnecessary regulations on imports and relaxing relevant restrictions.

All the deregulatory measures described above are processed in a transparent manner; relevant information is made available to the public and the contents of relevant deregulatory laws and measures are published in government gazettes.

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2. Extent of deregulations envisaged

Because Chinese Taipei is currently engaged in negotiation for admission to WTO certain areas in transportation, telecommunications, finance, services (such as insurance and legal services), and investments are still not completely open; certain state-run enterprises also await privatization; several import-export tariffs and certain non-tariff barriers also await further liberalization. In the future, after formal admission to WTO and in coordination with the pace of implementing its APROC national reconstruction plan, Chinese Taipei plans to engage further in the process of deregulation by stages.

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1. Objective (a) �� Improve the Transparency of Regulatory Requirements

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According to the five general principles of liberalization and internationalization that were publicly announced as part of the APROC plan, Chinese Taipei will increasingly take legislative action to facilitate deregulation process that will promote trade and investment liberalization, reduce barriers to natural persons passing across its borders, relax restrictions on the inward or outward flow of capital, establish a legal environment suited for a society with advanced information technology. Below is a brief description of the deregulation plan.

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Short/medium-term (1997-2000)

Chinese Taipei will:

• Trade in goods
• continue the domestic legislative process for effecting Chinese Taipei's WTO accession commitments, and consider further lowering tariffs and elimination of non-tariff measures after WTO accession.
• revise the "Statute for Establishment and Management of Export Processing Zones" to enhance further their functions in facilitating exports.
• Service Industries
• continue domestic legislative process for effecting WTO accession commitments particularly in the areas of finance, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, and professional services, and movement of natural persons.
• revise the "Employment Service Law." This will extend the employment time-limit for foreign workers and put all procedures pertaining to the hiring of foreigners under a single law and a single responsible agency in order to achieve the goal of reducing barriers to personnel passing across its borders.
• Measures to Liberalize the Financial Sector

1. continue pushing for the comprehensive liberalization of inward and outward movements of capital, in line with the goals of the APROC plan. This will integrate the domestic and foreign financial markets, improve the whole financial environment, and go further in developing sound capital, foreign exchange, insurance, gold, futures, and bills markets, thus gradually accomplishing the goal of becoming a regional financial center.
2. raise the ceiling of foreign investment in the stock market progressively.
3. continue drafting timetables for the privatization of state-run financial enterprises in order to accelerate the privatization of state-run banks.
4. continue reviewing and discussing the revision of the "Guidelines for the Screening Applications for the Establishment of Branches and Representative Offices by Foreign Banks," to make progress in relaxing restrictions on foreign banks coming to Taiwan to set up operation.
5. continue the legislative process for the "Futures Trading Law" to provide a statutary framework for the establishment of the domestic futures market.
6. continue revising the "Offshore Banking Act" to further expand the scope of its international finance business.

• Measures to liberalize telecommunications market

1. continue the step-by-step liberalization of telecommunications, adjust tariff structure, and integrate its basic National Information Infrastructure (NII) to achieve the goal of becoming an Asia-Pacific regional telecommunications center.
2. Continue to draft the "Schedule of Service Items, Scope, Deregulation Timetable, and the Number of Providers of Type 1 Telecom Enterprise" to allow operation of private companies in the international, long-distance, and local telephone markets.

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• Measures to liberalize transportation

1. continue to improve its port management to raise the efficiency of harbor operations, improve construction of port facilities, increase cargo transshipment capability, and integrate inter-harbor function, in order to attain the goal of becoming a regional maritime trade and transshipment center.
2. continue to install in its harbors a fully automated customs system and automated network system to simplify cargo customs procedures.
3. continue to develop an express cargo transshipment center, an airline passenger transfer center, and an aerospace city, in order to attain the goal of becoming a regional aerospace transshipment center.
4. continue to open private investment in business related to docks and warehouses.

• Investment

• continue reviewing and revising the "Negative List for Investment by Overseas Chinese and Foreign Nationals" according to international practices, to simplify investment review procedures, and relax the equity holding limits on foreign investment in certain industries, in order to make progress in matching international norms in foreign investment.
• Continue revising the "Statute for Investment by Overseas Chinese" and the "Statute for Investment by Foreign Nationals" so as to centralize the investment application process, and make progress in eliminating limits on the outward remittance of foreign exchange by overseas Chinese and foreign invested firms.

• Privatization

• continue implementing its objective of privatizing state-run enterprises. There are 44 state-run enterprises are planned to be privatized in stages.

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Short/Medium/Long-Term (1997-2010)

• continue studying and assessing regulations that many distort trade and investment and will revise the relevant laws, regulations, and administrative orders in due course.

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DEREGULATION

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1. Current Position
   

Hong Kong imposes minimal regulatory requirements on businesses other than those necessary to provide prudent supervision, protect consumer safety and interests, and encourage investment. These requirements are transparent and applied consistently across the board. Nevertheless, we continue to work to reduce the burden these requirements may present to our businesses.

We completed Phase I (Pilot Studies) of the Helping Business Programme in November 1996 and have implemented a number of the pilot studies' findings including: (a) simplifying government payment and collection procedures; (b) distributing common forms through the Internet; (c) improving services administered by the Marine Department; (d) improving licensing services administered by the Trade Department; (e) planning to establish a Business Licence Information Centre in 1997 to provide a "one-stop shop" information and enquiry service on licensing requirements; (f) streamlining land exchanges and lease modifications procedures; and (g) launching a new "Hong Kong Background Facts" service on Internet. Phases II and III of the Programme include gradual expansion and programme development and ongoing improvement integrated with the daily management of Government departments.

2. IAP Progress of Implementation

Serial No.	Commitment	Responsible Branch/ Department	Progress of Implementation
��	Short term (1997-2000)	��	��
10.1	Create a central database on regulatory activities in the Government. A Government-wide stocktaking exercise on regulatory activities will be conducted to support the creation of the database	Business and Services Promotion Unit	Completed a government-wide stocktaking exercise of regulatory activities. Currently developing the central database which will be ready later this summer. The database allows searching of regulatory measures by industry, department and policy area with annual updates to reflect the latest changes.
10.3	Undertake a Helping Business Programme to cut red tape, deregulate and transfer services out of the public sector to the business sector where appropriate market conditions prevail	Business and Services Promotion Unit	The Business Advisory Group, made up of business executives and government officials, was formed on 1 December 1996 to provide a link between the business and the public sectors in the pursuit of a business friendly government. The terms of reference of the Group include cutting red tape and eliminating over-regulation; reducing cost of compliance to business and cost of enforcement to government; transferring services from the public to the business sector; and improving existing services and introducing new ones.
��	Short/medium/long term (1997-2010)	��	��
10.2	Maintain high transparency of its regulatory regimes and explore further ways to publicize them	Business and Services Promotion Unit	Currently exploring measures to improve the transparency of the Government's regulatory regimes e.g. have started a study to streamline the application process for cross-border permits for private cars and to develop a user-friendly leaflet to explain the system and enhance transparency.

���.CURRENT STATUS

• In its continuing effort to increase economic efficiency, to improve the environment for trade and investment, and to implement its commitment under APEC and the WTO, Indonesia has undertaken a series of deregulatory measures in trade, investment, taxation, finance, monetary and banking, and other economic sectors. The most recent deregulatory measures which have been undertaken are the May Deregulation Package of 1995 and June Deregulation Package of 1996 which cover: clear and certain schedule of continued tariff reductions; reduction of tariffs; elimination of tariff surcharges; elimination of non-tariff barriers; administrative simplification of import and export procedures; facilitation of trade services; relaxation of restrictions on export, import, and distribution activities for foreign manufacturing companies; clarification and simplification of regulations governing industrial estates; increased opportunities for participation of the private sector, and enactment of anti-dumping measures.

• Over the past 15 years, Indonesia has carried out a systematic effort to increase the pace of development through the removal of government-based restraints on trade and industry and the empowerment of the private sector through a consistent process of deregulation and de-bureaucratization.

• Before, the government provided most goods and services. Now, through Indonesia's privatization policy, the private sector has been given greater opportunity to provide goods and services. The privatization process in Indonesia started with the banking system. This steps was followed by a series of actions to begin deregulating trade and investment. These action broadened the opportunities for the private sector which led to substantial burst in economic growth that reduced the need for direct government actions.

• In the area of electric generation, the government has encouraged the development of private power producers. Paiton I and Paiton II were the first big private power projects. Since then, a number of smaller private power projects have been approved.

• In telecommunications, Indonesia has sold part of the government's equity in its international communication firm (INDOSAT) and its domestic communication firm (TELKOM). This latter privatization will result in millions of new phone lines throughout the country over the next few years. In the area of cellular phone services, a number of private companies with some participation by TELKOM and INDOSAT, are currently operating in Indonesia.

• Privatization has also been implemented in the provision of other infrastructure services such as toll roads, harbours, airports, airline, and potable water. This privatization has dramatically expanded the infrastructure of the country. It is expected that further infrastructure services will be privatized in the future.

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2. INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS

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Short Term

• Indonesia will continue its efforts to further privatize state owned enterprises and economic sectors. This privatization improves the efficiency of the firms and sector involved, overcomes the shortage of government funds and helps to develop our capital markets. Indonesia is in the process of privatizing portions of its electric utility company (PLN) and other state owned enterprises.

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Medium/Long Terms

• Indonesia will continue the policy to further deregulating its economy.
• Although, Indonesia's regulatory framework has always been transparent, the government will continue to explore ways and means to further increase transparency in the regulatory process.
• Indonesia will continue to privatize its public firms by offering the shares of government owned companies to the public.
• Areas that will be further privatized will cover, inter-alia, steel industries, services, shipping lines, and public railways.

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DEREGULATION

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1. Current Position

1. Basic Approach

• Deregulation will promote competition and contribute to rectifying the high-cost structure of the Japanese economy. It will also encourage the creation of new business by giving scope for free and creative innovation by companies. Deregulation will also improve market access and will be effective in harmonizing the Japanese economy to international norms.
• Regulations should be radically reviewed and abolished, when necessary, regardless of the past process. Economic regulation should be based on the principle of "freedom in principle with regulation only as exception". Social regulations should be reviewed on an ongoing basis because technological advancements have weakened their significance and necessity. The basic idea in social regulation should be to have only the minimum regulation necessary to achieve policy objectives.

2. Recent Deregulatory Efforts (FY1993-1995)

• The Japanese government has adopted the following measures: Immediate Economic Measures (September 16, 1993), Fundamental Principle of Administrative Reform (February 15, 1994), and Guidelines for Promotion of Deregulation (July 5, 1994). More than 90 percent of the items in these measures have been implemented to date.

3. Deregulation Action Program

• This program was approved by a cabinet decision on March 31, 1995. On April 14, 1995 it was decided that the plan should be implemented within a three-year period (April 1995��March 1998).
• Coverage:

1,091 items in 11 fields including 724 newly-added items.

• Review and revision of program:

The government revised the program at the end of FY 1995, taking into consideration domestic and overseas requests and opinions and the results of the monitoring by the Administrative Reform Committee (an independent third party organization advising the government). Further revision is scheduled for the end of FY 1996.

• Ensuring transparency of the revision process:

In revising the plan the government will publish progress reports on the review process. Each ministry and agency will designate a contact point to receive opinions and requests from interested parties both domestic and foreign regarding the revision of the program.

4. "Economic Measures��toward steady economic recovery" (September 20, 1995)

- Coverage: 37 items

5. APEC Osaka Meeting "Initial Actions" (November 19, 1995)

• Coverage: 50 items

6. Formulation of the Action Plan for Rectifying High-Cost Structures and Promoting Dynamism part of the Social and Economic Plan for Structural Reforms �� Towards a Vital Economy and Secure Life (approved by the Cabinet, December 1, 1995)
7. Administrative Reform Committee "Views on Promotion of Deregulation (Part I)" (December 14, 1995)
8. Policy Actions on Market Access Issues as concerns Standards, Certification and others (approved by Office of Market Access the Office of Trade and Investment Ombudsman, March 26, 1996)
9. Revision of the Deregulation Action Program (approved by the Cabinet, March 29, 1996)

• Coverage: 1,797 items in 11 fields. Of these 569 are new additions, and 979 are to be implemented in FY 1996 or thereafter. About 70 percent of these items have been implemented to date.
• During the revision process at the end of FY 1995, requests for deregulation were received from the following APEC members: the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Australia. (See Appendix 1: several measures implemented from APEC Osaka meeting to the end of FY 1996)

2. Action Plan

1. Enhance the transparency of the regulatory system

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Short term (1997-2000)

• Japan will hear requests and opinions from interested parties both domestic and foreign in connection with revising the Deregulation Action Plan.
• The Administrative Reform Committee an independent third-party organization (to be in operation until December 1997) will provide recommendations to the government. The government will revise the plan taking into consideration the results of the monitoring activities of the Administrative Reform Committee.
• Government ministries and agencies will continue to designate a contact point to receive views and requests from interested parties both domestic and foreign.
• Briefings will be held for foreign governments and other organizations, on domestic and foreign requests for easing or regulations including those by foreign governments. During FY 1995, for example, a briefing was held on January 29, 1996 during the review period. On March 29, another briefing was held to outline the revised action plan.
• In the cases where it is decided after study that the status quo is to be maintained, despite requests for deregulation from a foreign government or other organization, the reasons for doing so will be publicly given.
• The Action Plan for Rectifying High-Cost Structures and Promoting Dynamism will be steadily promoted.
• Programs to enhance public awareness and understanding of deregulation will be actively promoted.

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2. Eliminate trade and investment distortions arising from domestic regulations that are more restricting than necessary to fulfill a legitimate objective

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Short term (1997-2000)

• Japan will implement the 1,797 deregulatory measures incorporated in the revised Deregulation Action Program of March 1996. (See Appendix 2: several measures scheduled to be implemented in the short term)
• The Deregulation Action Plan will be revised as scheduled in March 1997, in order to achieve further deregulation.
• Surveys and research will continue to be conducted to assess the actual state of public regulations and to study indicators related to the burden of notifications and reports, etc.
• New regulations will be held to the minimum necessary. When instituting new regulatory measures the regulations will in principle be reviewed after a fixed period of time.
• Local public bodies will be requested to review their regulations.
• Of the various requests submitted by APEC economies and collected by AAMA procedures up to last year. Japan will address those requests when it is able to do so.
• Surveys on differentials between prices at home and abroad will be conducted annually, and any findings on price-differential factors (regulations, trade practices, etc.) will be mad public. The findings will be reported each year to the Administrative Reform Committee so that these should be reflected in the revision of the Deregulation Action Program.

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Short/medium/long term (1997-2010)

• In order to promote deregulation measures which contribute to improved market access, active use will be made of complaint handling functions of the Office of Trade and Investment Ombudsman.

3. Publication of annual report detailing actions taken to deregulate the domestic regulatory regimes.

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Short term (1997-2000)

• Japan will publish "The Present State of Deregulation" (the so-called White Paper on Deregulation) and actively publicize it overseas. The White Paper will report on the present state of public regulations and deregulation efforts by the Government, give an outline of the program discuss the impact of deregulation on national life and provide information on its effects.

4. Provision of technical assistance in designing and implementing deregulation measures

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Medium/long term (2001-2010)

• In an effort to facilitate sharing of experience and technical expertise, case studies will be made of examples (i.e., best practices) where deregulation (including privatization) has succeeded in stimulating the economy.

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Appendix 1

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FROM APEC OSAKA MEETING TO THE END OF FY1996)

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1. Housing and Land

• Demonstration of safe construction methods for low-rise buildings, both using mobile scaffolding and without the use of scaffolding. (FY1996)
• To abolish the following requirements for the Government Housing Loan Corporation financing (April 1996); (a) incombustible roof material, (b) fire prevention for three stories wooden detached house, (c) duration standard for three stories wooden apartment house
• Revision of the structure of standards in the Building Standard Law with a view to shifting from designating particulars regarding materials, specifications, and standards to stipulating performance; and formulation of a new systematic framework. (Basic approach to be determined at the Building Council during FY1996)
• Revision of technical standards regarding housing construction methods using wood frame construction (two-by-four method) with a view to stipulating performance regulations. (FY1996)
• Revision of regulations on plumbing fixture contractors, including implementation of a uniform certifying exam and unification of requirements for designation. (Bill submitted at a recent ordinary session of the Diet. Revision to be implemented within two years after promulgation of the revised law.)

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2. Distribution-related

Simplify the documents which are submitted to government on the basis of Law Concerning the Adjustment of Retail Business in Large-Scale Retail Stores. (FY96)

3. Transportation

• Expansion of the range of cases in which cost account statements can be omitted from trucking rate notifications. (During FY1996)
• Review of the judgment criteria for identity of type of motor vehicles. (Scheduled for implementation in FY1996.)
• Reduction of the number of government-qualified mechanics required for designated garages from 3 to 2. (August 1996)
• Reduction of the number of government-qualified mechanics required for certified garages from 2 to 1. (August 1996)
• Designated garages which do not have their own inspection facilities will be able to inspect at the site of other designated garages. (FY1996)
• Establishment of a certification system for garages specializing in only certain types of parts such as brakes. (February 1997)
• General review of the definition of disassembling repair in view of developments in automobile technology and changes in the actual disassembling repair situation. (August 1996)

1. Standards, Certification, Import Processing and Related Matters

• Review of present systems of licensing and labeling regulation relating to the manufacture and importation of cosmetics. (FY 1996)
• Expansion of allowable cosmetic ingredients for each cosmetic category in the Comprehensive licensing Standards for Cosmetics by Category. (FY 1996)
• In fiscal 1996, the approval application process will be streamlined for "set products" where articles already approved for the company are simply combined in cases where there is no concern that quality control problems will arise.
• In fiscal 1996, the scope of medical devices that do not require partial change approval for cases of dimensional changes or addition of components will be expanded.
• Measures will be implemented in fiscal 1996 that will make re-examination of soft contact lenses unnecessary after approval has been granted, even if the method of use is changed through the introduction of additional disinfection methods. The said measures will be implemented when there is no difficulty confirming the effectiveness and safety of the change.
• Some of the 11 categories of liquefied petroleum gas equipment and appliances certified b the government will be excluded from regulation, others will become self-confirmed. (May 1996)
• Of the 10 types of gas equipment and apparatus in the 5 categories certified by the government, 3 types in 3 categories will be transferred to self-confirmation categories, and 1 category will be excluded from regulation. Of the 3 types of gas equipment and appliances in the 3 categories requiring self-confirmation, 1 category will be excluded from regulation. (May 1996)
• Planning to review the scope of products covered by the Household Goods Quality Labelling Law (textile products, household electrical appliances, daily necessities, and etc.) to expand the flexibility of labelling methods, to implement international harmonization of evaluation methods, and to expand the use of uniform letters in English in labelling the structure of the texitile products. (Implementation from 96FY in order)
• Plan to submit the abrogation of Export Inspection Law and Export Commodities Design Law after consideration of the interest councils on a prospect of the ordinary session of the Diet in FY 1996.

1. Financial Services and Securities

• Review of the various reports submitted by securities houses. (In January 1996, eight report types were abolished. In April 1996, over 100 types of report were abolished or simplified.)
• As to the range of firms eligible to be registered under relaxed standards as special rule issues on the Over-the-Counter market. "R&D-based companies" has been revised to "new venture businesses including service companies" in the registration standards. (Japan Securities Dealers Association rules amended in April 1996)
• Legal books mandated under the Securities and Exchange Law may now be maintained and preserved on electronic media. (April 1996)
• Restrictions on the Employee Pension Fund's asset investments, formerly applied to individual trust bank were abolished Restrictions are now imposed on the investment of assets as a whole. (April 1996)
• Raising the exemption ceiling beyond which approval is required for setting up overseas deposits and trusts by residents in foreign currency denomination for the purpose of portfolio investment. (from 100 million to 200 million) (April 1996)

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5. Energy

• In principle, approval for wholesale electricity activities has been abolished. (December 1995)
• Abolition of the designated area system under the Gasoline Retail Business Law, which had restrained newly building a gasoline station in the excessive competition. (the end of September, 1996)

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6. Other

• Review of the point system for mixed feed. (Revision of the Customs Tariff Law and other legislation on April 1, 1996)

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Appendix 2

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IN THE SHORT TERM (1997-2000)

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1. Transportation

• In the shipping tonnage adjustment system for coastal shipping the range of vessels that can be constructed without scrapping existing vessels will be expanded in the case of vessels with a long-term guarantee of cargo. (FY1996 or later)
• Exclusion of container and Roll-On Roll-Off vessels from the shipping tonnage adjustment system. (by the end of FY1998)
• Concerning the motor vehicle inspection systems, comprehensive review of the relationship among inspection, checks and maintenance in designated garages will be examined, and the necessary measures will be taken through this examination. (FY1996 or later)
• Change of the total gear ratio in noise tests. (Scheduled to be implemented in FY1996 or thereafter, considering the results of evaluation of vehicle tests up to the end of FY1995.)
• Study of extending the period of validity (currently six months) of new vehicle inspection certificates. (FY1996 or later)
• With respect to international cargo shipments, upgrade major road shipment routes by the end of FY1997 to allow passage by semi-trailers hauling fully-laden ISO 40-foot and ISO 20-foot containers. (by the end of FY1997)
• Adjustment of legislation with a view to joining the Mutual Recognition Agreement regarding Automobile Equipment (Revised UN ECE 1958 Agreement). (FY1996 or later)

2. Standards, Certification, Import Processing, and Related Matters

• Permission to use products equivalent to products with Better Living approval mark is government housing construction projects. (FY1997)
• Review of standards concerning the scope of pharmaceutical. (Study of permitting some vitamins and herbal supplements to be distributed as foodstuffs, study of some mineral supplements) (FY1996 or later)
• When it poses no problem in terms of product quality, kit products that combine pharmaceutical with medical devices may be treated as medical devices if so requested, in fiscal 1996 or later.
• Medical supplies that are managed under previously assessed radiation sterilization levels will be allowed to be shipped without further sterilization tests, to the extent that safety can be assured. (FY 1997)

Transfer of appliances and materials requiring government certification based on the Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law to the self-confirmation category. (Studies will be continued in FY1997 and after.)

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���.Current Status

• The "Five-Year Plan for a New Economy," launched by the new administration in 1993, designated deregulation as its main objective, and this aim has been pursued earnestly ever since.

• The aim of the deregulation policy is to put in place am economic system in which the private sector, with the help of individual voluntary participation and creativity, can play a greater role.

• To provide a legislative foundation for deregulation policy, the "Special Measure Act for the Deregulation of Corporate Activities" and the "Basic Law on Administrative Regulations and Application" were passed.

• "Committee for the Regulation Reforms of the Economic Administration Sector (March 1993), "consisting of economy-related ministers, and "Presidential Commission for Administrative Reforms (June 1993)," a semi-private organization, were established as administrative bodies.

• Especially in the area of economic deregulation, a greater emphasis was placed on providing an environment where firms can operate without regulatory constraints, and where financial and foreign transactions can be conducted with greater speed. Hence, these efforts will play important roles in "internationalizing" the Korean economy.

• From 1993 to September 1996, by selecting a total of 2177 items for discussion, the Committee for the Regulation Reforms of the Economic Administration Sector has pursued legislative and other processes.

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Deregulation Results

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Years	Topics	Results (Sep. 1996, present)
1993-1995	1970	1,759
1996	207	76

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Basic Direction

• By eliminating regulations that hinder fair market and business practices, Korea is encouraging not only the private sector's creativity, but also its market entry and competition.

• By minimizing government intervention and simplifying government procedures, Korea is eliminating barriers that prohibit free business and productive activities.

• Direct and "ex-ante" regulations that burden business activities are being minimized and being changed to "ex-post" and indirect regulations.

• A permanent organization that deals with deregulation will be in place, and private-sector participation will be encouraged to help find ways to improve the administrative process.

• Greater implementation emphasis will be placed on the short-term plan than the long-term plan, so that corporate bottlenecks can be eliminated as quickly as possible.

• To ease previous restrictions and to prevent new and potential restrictions, the real-name regulation system was established in January 196.

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Economy-related Administrative Conditions and Procedures

• By making it possible to legislate all economy-related administrative conditions and procedures, a legal precedence will be set so that administrative bodies cannot independently change regulations.

• Along with the clarification of vague economy-related laws, efforts where the registration, notification, and approval rules may not be used to benefit the administrative body will result.

• Implementation plan:
• The appropriateness of economy-related organizations seven regulation duties (approximately 2700 conditions) will be examined during the period between June 1996 and June 1997.
• After July 1997, transparency will be pursued in other areas of regulatory duties.

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Improvement in the Foreign Investment Environment

• Friendly M&As will be allowed through foreign direct investment. The "friendly M&A" will be defined as an M&A will the consent of the targeted company's board of directors.

• Enterprises having 100 billion won or more of total assets will be regarded as "enterprises requiring approval" M&As of those enterprises will be possible only upon receiving government's approval.
• Moreover, an application for M&As against those enterprises will be automatically approved if the ratio of acquiring outstanding shares against the share capital is 15 percent or less, and if the foreign investor does not become the largest shareholder of the targeted company.

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Improvements in Food Safety and Quarantine System

• Future control systems for inspecting food production and distribution procedures will be tightened with the implementation of more scientific/technological systems.

• Domestic systems will conform to international standards such as the WTO/SPS Agreement.

• Liberalization in the shelf-life of food will be gradual

• More plans to liberalize the shelf-life of most of the food products are forthcoming
• The initial shelf-life liberalization of 20 items was instated in October 1995, and further shelf-life liberalization of 54 items materialized in 1996. In turn, the shelf-lives of 75% of all food items were liberalized in 1996.

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Shelf-life Liberalization Plan

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Total Number of Products	1995	1996	1997	1998
346	207	48	35	26

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Legislative Amendments to the Competition Restriction Laws

• The present contract-based system will be changed to an open-bidding system in the construction, electrical, and electronic-communication industries. Furthermore, by changing the present real estate agency permit system to a notification system in the real estate market, participation and entry will be made easier by 1997.

• With the shift from manufacturing permit system to a notification system for machine-produced and processed goods, legislative amendments to the competition restrictive laws will be made during the latter part of 1996.

• Gradual abolishment of business area restraints will be implemented for customs firms. Furthermore, during 1997, similar business area constraints will be abolished on the travel agency, electric, and electronic communication industries.

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Approval of Industrial Product Standards

• Approval procedures for industrial standards that are not directly involved with consumer safety will be minimized. Furthermore, such approval procedures will be changed to registration procedures.

• In conformance with international standards and regulations on registration approval requirements, those products that have already met international standards will be exempt form meeting the domestic obligatory authenticity procedure by late 1997.

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Land-use and Factory Building Policies

• By the end of 1997, if a landscape change, with the goal of increasing the productivity of the land in an industrial area within a city, does not alter the intended land use in the area such a land use will be exempt from requiring approval.

• By the end of 1997, except for manufacturers, any individual who wants to build a factory for the lease of that factory will be permitted to do so.

• By late 1997, the present four-year factory completion date will be extended to eight years for factories that manufacture large equipment.

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Energy-Related Policies

• By 1999, the present approval system for petroleum manufacturing firms will be changed to a registration system. Furthermore by 1997, the approval system for petroleum marketing firms will be changed to a registration system.

• In 1997, the high-price notification system on petroleum products will be abolished.

• In 1997, foreign investment on domestic gas stations will be allowed.

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Medium and Long-term (2001~2010/2020)

• By maintaining domestic market order and minimizing those barriers that discourage free trade, there will be continuous efforts to conduct operations that will ease regulatory measures.

• By eliminating unnecessary practices, attention would be given to reducing the size of the government. Furthermore, efforts would be made to actively promote private-sector oriented market economy.

• Privatization of public companies will be pursued on a continuous basis.

• By improving consistency, reliability, and predictability of government measures, efforts will be made to improve the standards of the present administrative system.

• By clarifying the standards and procedures of all regulations, the government will voluntarily minimize administrative elements to increase transparency in the regulation of standards and procedures.

• Various policies and legislation will be improved, so that they are consistent with the WTO and other international standards. Such actions will play an important role in the internationalization of Korea's economic administration.

DEREGULATION

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On November 23, 1995, the President of Mexico issued a decree that will reduce the administrative burden of firms and promote their competitiveness by simplifying the regulatory framework for the establishment and operation of companies. The Decree establishes a review mechanism of all legal and administrative requirements and their paper burden currently imposed by Federal authorities for the establishment or operation of both domestic and foreign firms.

This review is being conducted by the Ministry of Trade and Industrial Development together with the Economic Deregulation Council, composed by government officials, private sector leaders, labor union representatives and academics. Such review includes the application of cost-benefit analysis to existing and future regulations. The review process will result in the creation of a Single Register which will contain the federal information requirements necessary for the establishment and operation of domestic and foreign firms.

Finally, the President signed cooperative arrangements with each state government in order to implement and promote similar deregulation procedures at the local level.

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DEREGULATION

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1. Current Position

The New Zealand Government believes that an open and competitive economy, functioning within a stable macro-economic policy framework will best achieve sustained economic growth, increase business and employment opportunities, wider consumer choice and strengthen incentives for companies to become more efficient and innovative. Since 1983, New Zealand has embarked on an extensive programme of deregulation in a wide range of sectors. A list of liberalization initiatives undertaken is included as Attachment.

New Zealand will promote the application of best practice in the use of regulations both domestically and in international fora including APEC, the OECD and the WTO. In particular, the Government is examining ways to ensure that regulatory solutions are only used where:

• a clear problem has been identified which might need to be addressed through regulation;
• all the possible options for addressing that problem have been identified and considered, including the possibility of doing nothing;
• on the basis of rigorous analysis regulation has been identified as the most appropriate option;
• the regulatory option is clearly targeted to the problem, and is not more restrictive than necessary to achieve its objectives;
• all those who are affected by the regulation have been consulted and their views taken into account; and
• mechanisms for monitoring and review of the effectiveness of the regulation have been considered.

1. Objective: Promote transparency of regulatory regimes and eliminate trade and investment-distorting regulation

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ACTIONS

Short and Medium Term

1. The New Zealand Government will continue to evaluate potential improvements in the present competition policy regime relating to natural monopoly industries.
2. Parliament is in the process of considering a Government-sponsored bill on the regulation of airports. The bill is aimed at limiting the potential for monopoly pricing by enhancing requirements that airport companies consult with major customers before fixing charges in respect of monopoly activities, coupled with information disclosure requirements that will expose any occurrence of monopoly pricing and inform the consultation process.
3. The Government has set up a working group to establish, monitor and review new companies' legislation and a medium-term review is also underway to examine insolvency law.
4. The Government is focusing on ensuring that domestic regulation in particular sectors meets its goals, while minimizing its costs. For example, it:

1. is undertaking a review of intellectual property rights statutes to bring them up to date with changes in business and technology, to minimize the costs to businesses of protecting their intellectual property rights and to streamline the system to facilitate the granting of rights;
2. has introduced legislation proposing changes to the law governing various Producer Boards to ensure that the legislation continues to meet the needs of producers and consumers and to minimize the costs of the regime; and
3. is undertaking a medium-term review of health occupational regulation to examine the case for continuing to regulate health occupations and, if regulation is required, to update the relevant legislation to establish a sound basis for health occupations in the future.

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Medium/Long Term

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The Government will:

1. continue to assess, and where necessary improve, the regulatory regime for infrastructure and utility businesses, including those owned and operated by local government; and
2. continue to consider the scope for further privatizations of State-owned businesses and assets where there are no public policy reasons for continued taxpayer ownership.

Attachment

International capital controls	��
Removal of controls on outward investment/borrowing	1984
Free entry of foreign direct investment (approved by Overseas Investment Commission, except for farmland, offshore islands and fishing)	1985~89
Very liberal regime for portfolio investment/repatriation of profits	1985

Industry and Service Sectors
Finance	��
Abolition of credit growth guidelines	1984
Removal of separate requirements for trustee banks, building societies, finance houses, stock brokers	1985~87
Removal of quantity restrictions and other entry barriers to banking	1985~86
End of formal financial controls (reserve ratio requirements, sector lending priorities)	1985
Removal of interest rate controls	1984
Abolition of export credit guarantees	1984
Removal of ownership restrictions on financial institutions	1985
Liberalization of stock exchange	1986
Reserve Bank Act targets monetary policy solely at inflation	1989
Adoption of Banking Supervision Regime based on information disclosure	1996
Energy	��
Corporatization of State Coal Mines and of the Government's oil and gas interests	1997
Financial restructuring of oil refinery	1988~91
Legislation on oil company ownership of service stations	1988
End of price control	1984~88
Sale of Crown gas exploitation/distribution interests	1988~90
Sale of most other Crown energy holdings except electricity	1990~92
Corporatization and restructuring of electricity generation and transmission	1987
Separation of electricity transmission from generation	1994
Separation of State-owned generation into two competition companies	1996
Corporatization and some privatization of local electricity distribution companies	1992
Competitive wholesale electricity market to come into operation	October 1996
Price controls on oil products ends	1987~88
Import restrictions on oil and oil products abolished	1988
Removal of franchise restrictions and oil company ownership restrictions on service stations	1988
Electricity generation deregulated	1988
Electricity and gas exclusive distribution area franchises removed	1993~94
Financial restructuring of the oil refinery	1988~91
Corporatization of local authority electricity and gas operations	1992
Wholesale and retail price controls on gas allowed to lapse	1993
Transport	��
Removal of restrictions on road carriage	1983~86
End of quantitative licensing of trucking	1986
Corporatization of state rail and bus services	1980
Tendering of local authority bus services and liberalization of licensing requirements	1991
Deregulation of taxi industry	1989
Replacement of quantitative licensing of domestic air services by 'qualitative' licensing	1984
Removal of foreign investment restrictions in domestic air services	1986
Corporatization of Air Traffic Services	1987
Corporatization of Airports	1988 onwards
Sale of Air New Zealand Ltd	1989
Adoption of liberal external aviation policy	1985
Deregulation of stevedoring industry	1989
End of qualitative licensing of domestic air services	1990
Removal of cabotage on coastal shipping	1995
Phasing of compulsory tendering on roading expenditure	1991~98
Compulsory competitive tendering of subsidized urban passenger transport	1991
Divestment of bus companies owned by local authorities	Ongoing
Sale of NZ Railways	1993
Labour market
Introduction of voluntary unionism	1983
More market-based bargaining under Industrial Relations Act Amendment: compulsory unionism reinstituted	1984
Some contestability in union coverage under Labour Relations Act	1987
Employment Contracts Act (voluntary unionism, contestable unions of any size, employer/employee bargaining at joint or individual level)	1990
Business law	��
Establishment of Commerce Act as liberal efficiency-based regime to govern mergers and trade practices	1986
Fair Trading Act governs consumer rights	1986
Review of securities legislation and takeover law	1988~91
Review of whole intellectual property regime (Patent, Copyright, Trademarks and Designs Acts) leading to reform of the Copyright Act and Amendments to Patents and Trade Marks Act	1990~94
Resource Management Act to govern more liberal planning and environmental legislation	1991
Crown Minerals Act to clarify property rights to mineral resources	1991
Review of Companies Legislation leading to Companies Act Law Reform	1993~96
Other deregulation measures	��
End of wage/price freeze	1984
Termination of sector specific price control and replacement by price control powers under the Commerce Act (no goods are under price control)	1984~88
Removal of quantity licensing on almost all industries, and end of quantity regulation on most	1986~88
End of all state regulated monopoly rights (except letter post, air traffic control)	1984~89
Removal of some occupational licensing	1985~90
Termination of restrictions on shop trading hours	1989
Termination of export market development incentive schemes	1984
Phase-out of export performance tax incentives	1984~87
State trading operations	��
Removal of almost all state regulated monopoly rights	1984~89
Corporatization of 24 state-owned enterprises (in transport, finance, tourism, forestry, broadcasting, utilities and service industries)	1987~88
Restructuring to isolate natural monopoly elements of State-owned Enterprises	1989~91
Full or partial privatization of Air New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand, Petroleum Corporation, Tourist Hotel Corporation, Shipping Corporation, Rural Bank, Government Life, Forestry Assets, Post Office Bank, Telecom Corporation, Radio New Zealand's Commercial Operations, Forestry Corporation and Works Corporation	1987~96
Requirement for local authorities to corporatise Local Authority Trading Enterprises (LATEs) and tender out services	1990~91
Encouragement to local authorities to sell holdings in port companies and local utilities	1991
Sale of other assets, eg. Irrigation schemes, fishing rights	1983~88
Agriculture	��
Announced termination of price support (SMP) scheme	1984
Producer Board reserve accounts at Reserve bank charged commercial interest rates	1984
Announcement in Budget of phasing out of fertiliser and noxious weeds subsidies, lowering of irrigation and waters subsidies, partial cost recovery on product inspection introduced (December 1985) and Rural Bank and Finance Corporation (RBFC) interest rates raised progressively (by 1% annually) to market rates. Investment taxation allowance allowed to expire and farm vendor finance scheme ended	1984
Land development concessions and livestock incentive scheme phased out	1985~1993
Marketing and price controls on eggs abolished	1986
Introduction of and move to full cost recovery of advisory, animal health and quarantine services	1986~1990
First year tax depreciation allowance withdrawn	1986
Wheat Board abolished	1987
Milk Board abolished	1988
Poultry Board abolished	1988
Rural Bank (RBFC) sold to private interests	1989
Removal of the Apple and Pear Board's domestic sales monopoly	1994

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DEREGULATION

�� Deregulation

Enactment of Trade Practices Act and antitrust legislation, reformation of business practices and regulations, liberalization of entry into a market, removal of regulations which govern the nature of product and the terms under which it is produced.

Implementation and continuous review.

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DEREGULATION

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1. Current Position

To meet the needs of further development of its socialist market economy and to bring domestic regulations on trade and investment more in line with the international practice, China has done massive work towards deregulation.

• After several rounds of unilateral tariff reduction, China brought its simple average tariff rate down to the present level of 23%;
• With four year's efforts since 1993, China has reduced the number of products subject to import quota, license administration and import control from 1,247 to 384, accounting for 5% of the total import tariff lines as compared with previous 20%;
• China has relaxed its conditions for market access in areas such as financial services, commercial retailing, energy, transportation and tourism sectors. Pilot programs are being actively explored for further deregulation;
• At present, the majority sectors are open to foreign investment except a few categorized as prohibited;
• China has eased its restrictions on trading rights for production enterprises, simplified its procedures and accelerated processing of applications;
• China introduced unified exchange rate system in 1994 by adopting single floating rate. It was announced in 1996 to materialize free convertibility of RMB on current accounts by the end of the same year;
• China has liberalized importation of all products except for 8 products through state trading and 6 through designated importers.

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2. Objectives

1. Increase transparency of regulations

• Actively help with the compiling of the report on APEC deregulation and liberalization measures;
• Continue to publish the latest laws, rules and regulations related to trade and investment through MOFTEC Gazette;
• Continue to seek other channels to promote transparency of regulatory regime.

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2. Further liberalize trade and investment regimes

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Short-term (1997-2000):

• Review the regulations on trade and investment, simplify licensing procedures, promote and improve fair competition mechanism;
• Experiment with registration system for trading rights in special economic zones;
• Reduce the number of import products handled by designated companies.

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Mid- and Long-term (2001-2020):

• Replace the approval system with registration system for granting trading rights within 5 years upon China's entry into the WTO;
• Phase out, within 5 years upon China's entry into the WTO, the practice of designating importers for the 6 items including rubber, steel products, timber, plywood, wool and acrylic fibers;
• Further review and liberalize regulations on trade and investment and seek to remove obstacles standing in the way of trade and investment.

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DEREGULATION

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Current Position

The Philippines has accelerated its adoption of market friendly reforms cognizant of the primacy of the private sector as the engine of growth, with the government providing the proper policy environment. The deregulation of the domestic regime has been undertaken in tandem with privatization and liberalization initiatives.

The Philippines has successfully privatized a number of government owned-or-controlled corporations and returned to private sector hands certain acquired assets. These include hotels, banks, an airline, steel firm, mining companies, petroleum refinery, etc. Scheduled for privatization are, among others, a fertilizer plant, smelting corporation, power-generating and transmission corporation. This consist the first wave of privatization.

The Philippines is now in the second and third waves of its privatization efforts. The second wave has been done through the BOT scheme and its variants primarily for the provision of energy, construction of roads and other infrastructure facilities. The third wave covers social sectors such as health services and education and pension funds.

A major restructuring of the tax system is being undertaken. This is aimed at making the system more equitable, the rates more reasonable and to facilitate administration.

A major reform in the financial sector is the liberalization in the entry of foreign banks, with issuance of RA 7721 in May 1994. This is a significant move considering that it amends a law which has been in place since 1948 and has limited to only 4 the number of foreign banks operating in the Philippines. Entry of foreign banks is allowed under 3 modes:

• ten (10) new foreign banks can open branches in the Philippines with full banking authority;
• an unrestricted number of foreign banks is allowed to set up locally incorporated subsidiaries up to 60% of which may be foreign owned; and
• an unrestricted number of foreign banks may enter the Philippines by acquiring up to 60% ownership of domestic banks.

On insurance, this has been opened to foreign equity up to 100% since October 1994.

Other reforms that have been implemented are:

• further reduction of the reserve requirement
• lower capital requirement for bank branching, particularly as regards thrift banks;
• expanded use of ATMs;
• liberalization of accreditation guidelines for securities dealership of Treasury bills;
• simplification of reportorial procedures of banks;
• lifting of restrictions on repatriation of foreign investments;
• increasing the ceiling on outward foreign investments;
• reduction of requirements against deposit and deposit substitutes of banks and non-banks;
• removing restrictions on automatic conversion into pesos of a certain portion of foreign loans, limiting foreign loan approvals;
• extension of foreign currency denominated loans to indirect exporters;
• lowering of BSP rediscount rate to increase utilization thereof; and
• creation of an exporters' dollar facility funded by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The latter three (3) were adopted to support the export sector in the face of an appreciation of the peso.

The exchange rate continues to be market-oriented with the BSP participating in the foreign exchange market when warranted to minimize unwanted fluctuations.

The domestic oil industry has been liberalized with the issuance of RA 8180 on 28 March, '96. This measure removed the restrictions on importation/exportation of petroleum products. It also enabled the adoption of an automatic pricing mechanism for petroleum products.

The Foreign Investments Act of 1991 has been amended. The amendments include, among others, the following: total removal of List C; elimination of list of strategic industries; reduction of the minimum paid-in equity capital from $500,000 to $200,000 for foreign-owned domestic market enterprises and to $100,000 if they involve advanced technology or if they employ at least 50 direct employees; and deletion of the 3-year requirement before a domestic market enterprise may change its status to export-enterprise.

RA 529, which prohibits the payment of domestically contracted obligations in foreign currency, except in four (4) cases, was repealed by RA 8183 on 11 Jun. '96. Under the new law, all monetary obligations are to be paid in Philippine currency, although the parties may agree that the obligations shall be settled in any other currency at the time of payment.

The Philippines maintains transparency in all its actions as part of the democratic process. Public hearings or consultations are usually conducted in the formulation of policies. The private sector and civil society have representation in certain government councils/committees. Laws and rules and regulations cannot take effect until after fifteen (15) days following complete publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines unless otherwise provided.

Time line	1997-2000	2001-2020
Obj. (a)	promote transparency of regulatory regimes
��	The Philippines will endeavor to further improve transparency of its regulatory regime through more timely publication of laws and rules and regulations and in the most widely read newspapers.
Obj. (b)	eliminate trade and investment distortions arising from domestic regulations
��	In its continuing program, the Philippines will initiate and implement measures that will further deregulate its domestic regime, taking into account it sustainable development thrust. Contemplated measures to be determined by Congress include those to: extend application of condominium law to industrial estates open retail trade to foreign participation relax requirements and improve benefits accorded to foreign entities setting up regional headquarters and warehouses in investment companies, allow membership of foreign investors in the board and provide for up to 100% foreign equity participation in financing companies, allow higher level of foreign participation in investment banks/houses, liberalize foreign equity participation in maritime and land transport, deregulate rates and routes eliminate restrictions on domestic borrowings of foreign firms.	The Philippines will continue to review and improve its regulatory regime.

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The Singapore Government has a programme to privatize various services thus far provided solely by the Government to allow them greater flexibility and subject them to market discipline instead of Government regulation. These include broadcasting, telecommunications, electricity and gas. The feasibility of privatizing port management is also being studied. [See also explanatory note on competition policy]

���. Current Position

The United States has demonstrated a strong and continuous commitment to enhancing domestic competition, opening a deregulating markets and reducing impediments to trade an investment worldwide. Since the 1970's the United State made significant progress in deregulating civil aviation railroads, trucking, telecommunications, and power genera and transmission. Important deregulation laws enacted since 1993 include the Customs Modernization Act, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, and the Paper-Reduce Act of 1995.

The Unites States has also undertaken a number of execution branch deregulatory actions since 1993. Under the National Performance Review, regulatory reforms were undertaken would respect to the operations of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and the Federal Drug Administration. A Presidential Announcement February 1995 initiated reform of the Federal Government regulatory system, including adjustments in the process for devising regulations and a review to identify obsolete and burdensome regulations.

The deregulatory process intensified in 1995-96 with the passage of important deregulation laws in telecommunication and agriculture and continued progress in executive branch deregulation efforts. On February 8, 1996, President Cline signed into law the Telecommunications Act or 1996. This important legislation spurs competition in all communication services by, among other steps, opening local phone market competition, setting conditions for regional phone companion enter new markets, gradually eliminating price controls on large and mid-size cable systems, and establishing competition between telephone and cable companies.

On April 4, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the omnibus farm bill (PL 104-127). The farm bill marks a historic bra from U.S. farm policies dating back to the 1930s by reptilian raft of government regulations. The bill replaces a system "deficiency payments" with a system of fixed annual payment through 2002 and strips from the government the authority to require subsidized farmers to idle some of their land. The bill also drops requirements that a farmer devote a portion their acreage to the same crop every year, phases out dairy price supports, and partially deregulates the sugar program.

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�. Objective (a) �� to promote transparency of regulate regimes

The United States will:

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Short/Medium/Long term (1997-2010)

• maintain the transparency of its regulatory regimes fully implement applicable measures to streamline are simplify regulatory processes.

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�. Objective (b) �� to eliminate trade and investment distortion arising from domestic regulations

The United States will:

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Short/Medium/Long term (1997-2010)

• Review its regulatory regimes to identify areas for or deregulation and implement new reform or deregulate measures where appropriate.
• Fully implement provisions of the Telecommunications of 1996 and the omnibus farm bill (PL 104-127).
• Continue deregulation efforts underway in the executive branch such as the National Performance Review.
• Continue full implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements.