Recent Developments At The Japanese Fair Trade Commission

Steptoe specializes in supporting Japanese clients and, with guidance from Japanese law firms, assisting global companies with legal matters in Japan. We have recently welcomed Goki Niimura of TMI Associates in Tokyo, who has joined Steptoe as an International Law Clerk for the next several months. Goki has kindly co-authored this edition of our StepAhead newsletter, in which we turn to Japan to survey developments involving the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC).

The JFTC has recently benefitted from increased funding and staffing, which is enabling it to enhance its investigation and enforcement efforts. Like antitrust authorities in the United States and Europe, the JFTC has recently become more aggressive against Big Tech companies such as Google and developments in digital markets and AI and their impacts on competition. The JFTC has also focused recently on protecting small and medium-scale businesses against larger competitors. As the JFTC becomes