2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Restructuring the Concept of "Abusing Superior Bargaining Position": A Comparative Study of Competition Law in Japan and Taiwan
| Project/Area Number |
21F21309
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
和久井 理子 京都大学, 大学院法学研究科, 教授 (50326245)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
CHENG SHIN-RU 京都大学, 大学院法学研究科, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2021-11-18 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Antitrust / Competition law / Taiwan / Japan / US law / Comparative law / Platform |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Having learnt from Dr. Cheng’s seminar on the Taiwan online platform foodpanda's Most Favoured Nation (MFN) case and his other academic inputs shared in 2021 and early 2022, Cheng and Prof Wakui researched together the regulation and policy directions relating to digital platforms' superior bargaining power and abusive practices. These led to their even further discussion on the same issue together with Korean and German competition researchers. Based on these, Wakui gave a presentation in Korea and co-authored a comparative competition book together with Prof Thomas Weck from Germany. Cheng helped the book-writing process based on his experiences and knowledge in Taiwan, the US and EU.
Meanwhile, Cheng expanded his research to labour protection issues and examined how the agreements unreasonably restrict the unprivileged labourers (workers) from job options and, therefore, hamper competition between employers. The results were presented at the international conference held by the University of Osijek and published in the NYCU Law Review. This is the area where Wakui had been working on and she shared her knowledge with Cheng as to the state of the issues in Japan and they discussed remaining issues and potential research subjects.
In Japan, the digital platform's abuse of superior bargaining position has been also subject to the Act on Improving Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms, and Cheng and Wakui closely examined how the act is operated and conducted comparative law studies. The result of this joint research was presented in Taiwan in early April 2023.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
On top of research achievements noted in "Summary of Research Achievements" ("Summary"), Dr. Shin Ru Cheng deepened his knowledge on the regulation of abuse of superior bargaining position (ASBP) in Japan and conducted the comparative law analysis as planned. As noted in the Summary, he also examined how the Act on Improving Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms is operated in Japan and assessed its relationship with the ASBP regulation and competition law in general. In the process, he gained in-depth insight as to how the platforms relate to other business and consumer users and put ASBP and Transparency Act in the broader regulatory and legal perspectives including the consumer and data protection laws, which was presented in Taiwan together with Prof. Wakui.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In a digital-platform-cantered ecosystem, a platform offers multi-digital services, which interlink and reinforce the competitiveness of services within the ecosystem. This year, Dr. Shin Ru Cheng will conduct the research aiming at building a competition analysis framework for “aftermarket” issues, in which he will explore whether the current “aftermarket” theories are applicable to the ecosystem; and if so, whether competition law shall grant the assumption of lawfulness to such patent exercise.
Having explored the specific issue, Cheng will then conclude the project by giving the answers to the research questions regarding definition of abuse (or unjustness) and the roles of ASBP regulation in preserving the competitive and innovative markets in platform-centred digital economy.
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