Antitrust watchdog launches probe into Rakuten's free delivery plan
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has started investigating online mall operator Rakuten Inc.'s plan to make marketplace merchants shoulder the costs of its proposed free shipping service, a source close to the matter said Wednesday. The source said the antitrust watchdog has begun hearing from ...
Online sellers petition for antitrust probe into Rakuten free shipping policy
A group of merchants on Rakuten Inc.'s online shopping mall on Wednesday submitted a petition with some 4,000 signatures to the Fair Trade Commission, asking it to investigate the e-commerce giant's planned free shipping policy. The union of more than 300 sellers on Rakuten alleges ...
Manipulation of search results may violate antitrust law, says Japan's FTC
The Fair Trade Commission said in a survey report Thursday that the practice of online shopping site operators prioritizing products made by themselves or their affiliates in users' search results could be in violation of the anti-monopoly law. The antitrust watchdog will notify shopping site ...
Walmart seen subsidizing vendors in online holiday price war with Amazon
Hold on to your smartphone — the holiday price wars between Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are heating up. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has introduced a program to temporarily lower the price consumers pay for some items on its marketplace site, where third-party vendors ...
Japan's Fair Trade Commission probes restaurant booking websites over alleged strong-arm tactics
The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into whether the operators of major restaurant search and booking websites in the country have imposed unreasonable conditions on participant eateries. FTC Secretary-General Akinori Yamada announced the launch of the investigation during a news conference Wednesday. He said ...
Japan's Fair Trade Commission investigates suspected school uniform price cartel
The Fair Trade Commission on Wednesday conducted on-site inspections of Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co.'s head office in Tokyo and other locations over an alleged price cartel for the uniforms for students of five public high schools in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. The inspections also targeted ...
BMW Japan raided by FTC over allegations it set unfair sales quotas: sources
Japan's Fair Trade Commission raided BMW Japan Corp. on Wednesday for allegedly imposing unreasonable sales quotas on its distributors and making them buy vehicles when they missed the targets. A representative of BMW Japan confirmed that the FTC raid had taken place, and commented that ...
FTC compiles draft guidelines for tighter regulations on tech giants and use of customer data
The Fair Trade Commission said Thursday it has compiled draft guidelines for tighter regulation of technology giants in order to strengthen protection of customer data, and aims to introduce the first such rules as early as October. The antitrust watchdog said the guidelines are designed ...
Japan's FTC demands action from four big contractors who keep cropping up in antitrust cases
The apparently unprecedented move by the FTC followed a spate of antitrust violations by companies linked to the four — Obayashi Corp., Kajima Corp., Taisei Corp. and Shimizu Corp.
Japan's monopolies agency reportedly investigating Apple for hammering suppliers
The Fair Trade Commission is investigating Apple Inc. over its pressure on parts makers and whether it abused its power in violation of antimonopoly rules, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday. The investigation is the latest by regulators against the tech giant after they found last ...
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is expected to announce a roughly $5 billion settlement with Facebook Inc. as early as this week of its investigation into the social media company's handling of user data, two sources briefed on the matter said on Monday. The FTC, ...
Japanese antimonopoly watchdog drafts guidelines to regulate IT giants
The Fair Trade Commission has drafted guidelines stipulating that it can consider cases where information technology giants obtain personal data without consent as violations of the country's antimonopoly law, it was learned Tuesday. The antimonopoly watchdog will shortly compile a final draft of the guidelines ...
