The bill to amend the Japanese Antimonopoly Act (AMA) finally passed the Diet on 19 March 2019. The amendments will increase the amount of the administrative fine, called a surcharge. This low surcharge is routinely criticised. Despite several changes made to the current system, the surcharge is...

The Pacific Ocean liner shipping market appears to be cartelized, primarily because of antitrust exemptions for shipping companies’ agreements. The current industry consolidation trend driven by economies of scale is likely to nurture the collusion inducing environment further; thus,...

It has been long since Japan was called ‘the world’s factory’. Since the 1990’s, the notion that Japan cannot maintain its economic strength and has to change to steer its economy to be an innovation-driven one has been widespread. Accordingly, measures to strengthen intellectual...

"This book provides a comparative overview of the rules in EU, US and Japan law on competition. After an overview of the history and the underlying economic issues, it discusses cartels and other agreements restraining competition (ancillary agreements, R&D/specialization agreements,...