A Review of Taiwan’s Fair Trade Law Draft by Referring to the U.S. Antitrust Laws

Due to the rapid industrialization and commercialization of Taiwan’s economy, many of Taiwan’s old laws regulating economic activity have been rendered obsolete. The lack of proper regulation of modern economic activities has led to the formation of many monopolies and oligopolies in Taiwan which practice price-fixing and output restrictions. The Taiwanese government has responded to this problem with a new antitrust statute, known as the Fair Trade Law (FTL), and a draft FTL was formally adopted in 1986. The strengths and weaknesses of the draft FTL are analyzed with regards to monopolies and oligopolies, mergers and combinations, and concerted actions. Using U.S. antitrust law as a guide, alternatives are proposed to eliminate the draft FTL’s significant drawbacks