On December 30, 2018, an amendment to the Japan Antimonopoly Act
(the Act) to introduce "Commitment Procedure" became
effective. The Commitment Procedure is a new procedure to resolve
alleged violations of the Act voluntarily by an agreement between
the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) and a company under
investigation. It is similar to an antitrust consent decree under
U.S. law.
The Commitment Procedure was introduced in accordance with the
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, first signed by 12 countries
but then by 11 countries after withdrawal of the United States.
The Commitment Procedure is expected to provide opportunities to
JFTC and companies under investigation to remediate alleged
violations of the Act at an early stage, as an alternative to
issuing cease-and-desist orders and/or imposing surcharge payments.
With respect to its scope, according to the Policies Concerning
Commitment Procedures, the following conducts will not be subject
to the
