Effectiveness and Transparency of Competition Law Enforcement—Causes and Consequences of a Perception Gap Between Home and Abroad on the Anti-Monopoly Act Enforcement in Japan

In this Essay, I will explain the causes of the perception gap between home and abroad regarding the JFTC’s enforcement activities, analyze the JFTC’s informal style of AMA enforcement, and make modest proposals to narrow the perception gap. In Part II, I will briefly present “typical” views from both domestic and foreign sources concerning AMA enforcement and the JFTC’s responses to foreign views. In Part III, I will examine domestic and foreign causes of the contrast, and identify the JFTC’s informal enforcement style as an underlying feature. Finally, in Section IV I will make some modest proposals for improving both foreign perceptions and the effectiveness of AMA enforcement, and I will provide suggestions for developing Chinese competition law