Latest news with #AntimonopolyLaw
Yomiuri Shimbun
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Cartel Suspicion: Hotel Industry Practices Inviting Distrust
With the increase in inbound visitors and domestic travelers, the price of hotel rooms has been skyrocketing. The hotel industry needs to reform its opaque practices to avoid suspicions of unfair price hikes. The Japan Fair Trade Commission has issued warnings to 15 operators of hotels in Tokyo, urging them to prevent a recurrence of the practice of exchanging information on such matters as room rates, saying it could possibly constitute an 'unreasonable restraint of trade,' violating the Antimonopoly Law. Companies that were the target of the warnings included the operators of well-known hotels such as the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo and The Okura Tokyo. Representatives from each company reportedly held monthly meetings to exchange internal information such as room occupancy rates, average prices, reservations and pricing plans. The commission ultimately concluded that it could not confirm any price gouging practices, but it said some hotels explained during the investigation that they had used information from other companies as a reference for setting room rates. Such information exchange within the hotel industry could be construed by consumers as contributing to the rise in accommodation prices. This practice is said to have been going on for decades. The companies should take the JFTC's warning seriously. It must be said that the underlying issue is the collusive nature of the hotel industry. When deciding rates and services, it is said to be important to accurately predict demand. Similar meetings have reportedly been held among business hotels and hotels in regional areas as well. The commission has also issued requests to business associations to which those hotels belong, asking them to tell their members to be compliant with laws. It is important for the industry as a whole to strive to improve its behavior. Exchanging information between companies is not always problematic. Exchanging information on market trends and customer preferences to improve services is likely important. However, when information exchange between companies leads to price fixing, it can constitute a cartel. In such cases, consumers are forced to pay higher prices than the level set by price competition. Hotel room rates have been rising steadily. According to a private research firm, the average price of a room last year was ¥16,289, and there is data showing that it has increased by 40% from the level immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic. While there are inevitable factors such as rising labor and utility costs, many people still feel that accommodation prices are too high. It is important to avoid giving the impression that prices are being tacitly adjusted within the industry. In the industry, an increasing number of hotels are using artificial intelligence to predict future demand and set accommodation prices. It is hoped that the industry will move away from obsolete business practices and strive for fairly improving services. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 10, 2025)
Yomiuri Shimbun
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Competition Regulator Says Tech Giants' Integration of Own Generative AI into Services Could Violate Antimonopoly Law
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Japan Fair Trade Commission head office in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo The Japan Fair Trade Commission stated that tech giants integrating their own generative AI into their existing products with the intent to interfere with rival companies' business, this could constitute 'tie-in sales' or 'private monopolization' in violation of the Antimonopoly Law, in a report on its investigation into the generative AI market published Friday. There is a trend in the digital market for Big Tech companies, particularly Google, Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon and Microsoft, to integrate their own generative AI services into their products. For example, Google search results include AI-generated summaries, while Microsoft has incorporated generative AI into office software like Word to assist with writing documents. According to the report, competing AI development companies expressed concerns to the JFTC that dominant firms could gain an advantage in the distribution of generative AI by integrating generative AI products into existing digital services and that it would become difficult to have users adopt latecomer firms' generative AI products. The JFTC noted that the integration of generative AI products into existing services by tech giants and other companies is a 'method of technological innovations and such an act itself is not immediately problematic under the Antimonopoly Law.' However, the commission also argued that if the purpose is to hinder competitors' businesses or raise barriers to entry, there is a risk of violating the law. Regarding the integration of generative AI on smartphones, related companies have expressed concerns. One company said 'restricting access to the software necessary to run our generative AI will cause a competitive disadvantage.' As Google and Apple have a monopoly on the the basic software for smartphones, the commission expressed the view that such access restrictions could also constitute 'interference with a competitor's transactions' in violation of the Antimonopoly Law. This is the first edition of the report, and the JFTC plans to continue to watch the situation and publish follow up reports as needed.
Yomiuri Shimbun
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan Fair Trade Commission Report Indicates Possible Antimonopoly Law Violation by Major Taxi App Operators
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The building that houses the Fair Trade Commission and the Public Prosecutors Office is seen in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, in February 2022. The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) released a report in late April on an investigation into the use of taxi ordering applications for smartphones. In the report, the JFTC stated that it may be a violation of the Antimonopoly Law if a major operator of such an application arbitrarily favors certain taxi companies in transferring orders or requests taxi companies not to use taxi applications of other operators. Such applications act as intermediaries between taxi users and taxi companies. Among the well-known applications of this kind in Japan are Go, Uber and DiDi. The JFTC began the investigation in October last year. During the investigation, taxi companies that receive orders through such applications expressed concern that application operators may favor taxi companies with which they have a capital relationship when transferring ride orders. The JFTC stated that if a dominant taxi application operator were to arbitrarily favor a particular taxi company when transferring an order, it could constitutes discriminatory treatment of business conditions, which may violate the law. Taxi companies also told the JFTC that, when there is a potentially lucrative order, taxi application operators tend to give priority to taxi companies that only use their applications. If an application operator requires taxi companies not to use other operators' applications as a condition for giving them priority in transferring orders, it constitutes exclusive dealing that may be in violation of the law.
