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EU, Japan Reach Understanding on Competition
The European Union (EU) and Japan reached a mutual understanding Wednesday on substantial elements of an envisaged cooperation agreement regarding the application of both EU and Japanese competition laws.
Announcing the competition understanding, the European Commission, the EU's executive body, said the envisaged agreement would make it easier for the competition authorities in the EU and Japan to exchange information on international competition cases and coordinate their investigations to the extent possible under domestic rules.
EU Commissioner for competition Mario Monti said no body can dispute the increasing international dimension of competition policy. The European Commission has been pioneering closer cooperation between antitrust authorities, he said.
The existing framework of bilateral agreements between the EU, the United States and Canada will be completed by a very similar agreement with Japan, Monti said. "Our experience so far has demonstrated that cooperation in competition matters between the world's major economies is beneficial not just for the authorities but is also in the interest of companies and ultimately the consumer," he added.
The EU executive and Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), the Japanese competition authorities, agreed last October that it would be mutually beneficial to work toward strengthening their cooperation in the field of competition.
Since then, the two sides has explored the possibility of concluding a cooperation agreement in this area.
Having considerable experience in bilateral cooperation on international competition matters, the EU has already concluded basic agreements with the United States in 1991 and with Canada in 1999.
In October 1999, Japan signed a bilateral agreement with the United States in this area. Now the European Commission is ready to launch formal negotiations with the Japanese government on the conclusion of an EU-Japan competition cooperation agreement similar to the ones that both sides have concluded with the United States and the EU-Canadian deal.
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