17 January, 2018
Welcome to the 1st 2018 edition of our bi-monthly Asia Pacific Competition Law Bulletin. As with previous editions, this bulletin has been produced in collaboration with our Linklaters colleagues (China) and our Allens colleagues (Australia), together with expert local law firms around the region: Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (Japan), Rahmat Lim & Partners (Malaysia), Allen & Gledhill LLP (Singapore), Lee & Ko (South Korea), and Tsar & Tsai Law Firm (Taiwan). We hope that you continue to find this newsletter a useful source of information on competition law issues across the Asia Pacific region.
In this edition, we look at a number of competition law and policy developments in the Asia Pacific region. As significant changes to the competition law regime in Australia came into effect in at the end of 2017, big changes are coming in Singapore as the competition authority take over consumer protection. There will also be a possible wave of legislative reforms coming in Asia, as South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong may be looking to review their regimes in 2018.
In terms of antitrust enforcement, the Taiwanese competition authority imposed a record fine on Qualcomm, while Malaysia saw cartel enforcement against sand operators. As for mergers, the last merger filing cleared with remedies in 2017 in China is discussed. Meanwhile, market reviews were conducted in respect of the pharmaceutical and construction sectors in Malaysia and in employment issues in Japan.
In Hong Kong, we briefly discuss the set of model “Non-collusion clauses” for procurement tenders recently published by the Hong Kong Competition Commission, and an application seeking clarity on the exclusion of the application of competition law to a set of banking regulations.
For the full text document of all the articles below, please click here.
For further information, please contact:
Jian Fang, Partner, Linklaters
jian.fang@linklaters.com
