Abstract
In this chapter, we explore recent developments of antimonopoly law in relation to merger control in Japan. Arai (2004) states that Japan’s merger control policy is competition oriented, systematically designed, and transparent but that the policy is regulatory. In March 2007, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) revised the Guidelines to Application of the Antimonopoly Act Concerning Review of Business Combination (Business Combination Guidelines) based on three factors: (i) international consistency, (ii) enforcement experiences, and (iii) economic theory. The JFTC amended the notification rules and Business Combination Guidelines in July 2011, which canceled the earlier consultation system and gave early signs of how the reforms would influence the JFTC’s merger practices.
This Chapter is based on Koki Arai (2015) “Merger Assessment in Japan: the Declining Importance of Market Shares.” Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, 6(5), 337–345.
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Notes
- 1.
Recent developments in EU are discussed in Drauz et al. (2013). See Gotz Drauz, Paul McGeown, and Benjamin Record, ‘Recent Developments in EU Merger Control’ (2013) 4 Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 146.
- 2.
Koki Arai, ‘An Airline Merger in Japan: A Case Study Revealing Principles of Japanese Merger Control’ (2004) 4 Journal of Industry, Competition & Trade 207.
- 3.
Etsuko Kameoka and Mel Marquis, The Sun Also Sets: Trending Away from Japanese Exceptionalism in Merger Control and Closer to Global Standards, https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/assets/Free/cpiasiakameokamarquis.pdf, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 4.
Budzinski Oliver, Impact evaluation of merger control decisions, Ilmenau Economics Discussion Paper No. 75, http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/67109/1/722215983.pdf, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 5.
Anne C. Witt, ‘From Airtours to Ryanair: Is the More Economic Approach to EU Merger Law Really about More Economics?’ (2012) 49 Common Market Law Review 217.
- 6.
Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (2011) Antitrust Division Policy Guide to Merger Remedies. Retrieved from the Department of Justice website: http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/guidelines/272350.pdf, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 7.
Daniel Crane, ‘Has the Obama Justice Department Reinvigorated Antitrust Enforcement?’ (2012) 65 Stanford Law Review 13 http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/sites/default/files/online/articles/65_Stan._L._Rev._Online_13.pdf, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 8.
Spencer W. Waller, ‘Access and Information Remedies in High-Tech Antitrust’ (2012) 8 Journal of Competition Law & Economics 575.
- 9.
Neil Campbell and Sorcha O’Carroll, ‘Merger Control in India: Partial Implementation of the ICN Recommended Practices’ (2011) 7 Antitrust Chronicle 7.
- 10.
Karel Cool, Nicolas Harle, and Philippe Ombregt, Merger Control and Practice in the BRIC Countries versus the EU and the US: The Facts, SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2163437, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 11.
Ping Lin and Jingjing Zhao, ‘Merger Control Policy under China’s AntiMonopoly Law’ (2012) 41 Review of Industrial Organization 109.
- 12.
The Business Combination Guidelines does not mention safe harbour directly. It mentions: ‘… it is normally considered that the effect of a horizontal business combination may not be substantially to restrain competition in a particular field of trade and consequently, … and the specific number of the Herfindahl-Herschman Index and its increments are as follows:
-
(a)
The Herfindahl-Herschman Index after the business combination is not more than 1,500.
-
(b)
HHI after the business combination is more than 1,500 but not more than 2,500 while the increment of HHI is not more than 250.
-
(c)
HHI after the business.’ (The parentheses are omitted.)
-
(a)
- 13.
L Kaplow, ‘Why (Ever) Define Markets?’ (1982) 124 Harvard Law Review 437–517.
- 14.
Gregory J. Werden, Why (Ever) Define Markets? An Answer to Professor Kaplow, SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2004655, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 15.
Retrieved from the JFTC’s website: http://www.jftc.go.jp/en/pressreleases/yearly-2010/oct/individual-000016.html, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 16.
See n 5, Part III 1. (1).
- 17.
Retrieved from the European Commission’s website: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-10-45_en.htm, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 18.
Retrieved from the JFTC’s website: http://www.jftc.go.jp/en/legislation_gls/imonopoly_guidelines.files/110713.2.pdf, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 15.
- 20.
Ibid., n 7, p. 30.
- 21.
Retrieved from the Department of Justice website: http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/guidelines/215247.htm, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 22.
European Commission, ‘Guidelines on the Assessment of Horizontal Mergers under the Council Regulation on the Control of Concentrations between Undertakings’ (2004) Official Journal C 031. 05/02/2004, pp. 0005–0018.
- 23.
Id, n 7.
- 24.
Tadashi Shiraishi, ‘Heisei 22nendo Kigyo Ketsuho Jirei-shu no Kento’ (2011) 733 Kosei Tosihiki (Fair Trade) 61 (in Japanese).
- 25.
Retrieved from the JFTC website: http://www.jftc.go.jp/en/pressreleases/yearly-2011/dec/individual-000457.html, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 26.
Akira Negishi, ‘Honken Hyoshaku’ (2012) 1438 Jurist 5 (in Japanese).
- 27.
Ibid., n 13, p. 21.
- 28.
Malcolm B. Coate, ‘The Use of Natural Experiments in Merger Analysis’ (2011) 1 Journal of Antitrust Enforcement 1. Retrieved from SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1853705, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 29.
Ibid., n 6, p. 20.
- 30.
DG Competition, European Commission, (2011) Best Practices for the Submission of Economic Evidence and Data Collection in Cases Concerning the Application of Arts 101 and 102 TFEU and in Merger Cases.
- 31.
See Mittal/Arcelor, Case No COMP/M.4137 (2006).
- 32.
Retrieved from the CCI website: http://www.cci.gov.in/May2011/OrderOfCommission/CombinationOrders/C-2012-11-93.pdf, accessed 23 July 2014.
- 33.
Thomas Hoehna, ‘Structure Versus Conduct—A Comparison of the National Merger Remedies Practice in Seven European Countries’ (2010) 17 International Journal of the Economics of Business 9–32.
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Arai, K. (2019). Merger Assessment in Japan: The Declining Importance of Market Shares. In: Law and Economics in Japanese Competition Policy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8188-1_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8188-1_10
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