For Fair and Free Market Competition

Sep 13, 2011

For Fair and Free Market Competition

Japan Fair Trade Commission (“JFTC”) strives for proactive and comprehensive public relations in order to make our concrete activities, enforcement of policy, interpretation of the Antimonopoly Act (“AMA”), and other related laws and regulations widely known.

In this article, we introduce both our DVD for public relations and contents for children, as presented over the public relations section of our website.

1. Public Relations DVD

JFTC made the DVD for public relations titled For Fair and Free Market Competition in 2008. The purpose of this DVD is to prevent enterprises from engaging in anticompetitive conduct by comprehensively explaining to general consumers and employers the following two principles of the AMA and Subcontract Act that are under the jurisdiction of JFTC:

• For the market to function well in a free economic environment, it is very important for enterprises to comply with AMA.
• Compliance with the AMA assures the interest of general consumers and sound national economic development because it promotes fair and free competition and stimulates the creative initiative of enterprises.

The DVD starts with a short drama that introduces a scene portraying a dawn raid. Then, after explaining the purpose of AMA, it describes in detail the regulations of AMA and Subcontract Act, and the flow of the investigation procedure (such as the initial clues, investigation, cease and desist orders, surcharge payment orders, leniency programs, criminal accusation, and so on) by providing a simple explanation within a short drama. In addition, the DVD also briefly introduces the organization of JFTC and its tasks other than investigations, such as consultation for enterprises, review of M&A, and working on regulatory reform and international cooperation.

We lend out the DVD to trade associations and consumer groups, and also introduce the DVD over the website in order to provide easy access for everyone Japan Fair Trade Commission (“JFTC”) strives for proactive and comprehensive public relations in order to make our concrete activities, enforcement of policy, interpretation, participation of the Antimonopoly Act (“AMA”), and other related laws and regulations widely known.

※ DVD for public relations (English version) http://www3.stream.co.jp/www11/jftc/090330/01_500k.asx

2. Content for Children

JFTC has been posting many kinds of information on the website, such as press releases, regular press conferences of the Secretary General, commentary of the Antimonopoly act, and FAQs.

However, because JFTC has received such opinions as “the website of JFTC is very informative for experts, legal staffs, and learners of enterprises, however, it is not familiar with and difficult for general consumers” or “it is necessary to teach children what fair and free competition is,” in 2010, JFTC produced content for children concerning AMA and JFTC as well as for general consumers.

A mascot character called “Dokkin,” a boy named “Koh,” and a girl named “Sei” play in an animation-formatted content for children titled “Teach me, Dokkin.” They introduce the necessity of competition and the role of JFTC by explaining anticompetitive conduct such as price-fixing cartels, private monopolization, resale price restriction, and so on with familiar examples such as “Why did wine price go up?,” “Why can’t we buy cards what we want?,” and “Why is a price of a certain brand handbag high?”

In addition, in order to make the DVD enjoyable, we add a twist by presenting some simple quizzes concerning AMA

Content for Children (Japanese only) http://www.jftc.go.jp/kids/index.html

3. Content for General Consumers

Furthermore, in content for general consumers, “Relation between our living and AMA,” JFTC introduces the necessity of competition, an outline of the AMA’s regulations of the AMA, and the role of JFTC, consisting of the following titles such as “Why can we buy a good quality product at a low price,” “If such a thing happens, our living will be exposed to risk,” “Yellow card against a violation of rule by enterprises,” and “What kind of cases have been generated so far?”.

Content for general consumers (Japanese only) http://www.jftc.go.jp/ippan/index.html

JFTC will keep on widely publicizing particulars of the AMA and activities of JFTC, not only for businesses but also for general consumers and children who will operate economic activity in the future. For this purpose, JFTC not only utilizes DVDs and their contents for children/general consumers introduced in this article but also seeks effective advertisement by utilizing the media, etc. in the future.