The Act for Amendment of the Antimonopoly Act (“Amendment”) was enacted on 19 June 2019, and was promulgated on the 26th of the same month.

The Amendment introduced a new system for calculating the reduction rate of administrative fines (surcharges) based on the degree of the applicant’s cooperation with the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) in its investigation (“Reduction System”) as part of the Japanese leniency program. The new “Japanese attorney-client privilege” will also be introduced under its Rules on Investigation.

In April 2020, the JFTC published draft rules, operational policies and guidelines regarding the Reduction System and the Japanese attorney-client privilege. The rules, operational policies and guidelines were later finalized after public consultation.

With the exception of some sections, the Amendment will come into force on 25 December 2020.

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