The identification of agreement for concerted action under oligopoly-an example of administrative decision for Chinese Petroleum and Formosa Plastic case
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Wu, Wei-Han
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
The Fair Trade Commission (“FTC”) stated in its decision letter with ref. No. 093102 that by adjusting their gasoline prices almost simultaneously Chinese Petroleum and Formosa Plastic engaged in concerted actions (a “cartel”) in violation of Article 7 of the Fair Trade Law (“FTL”). Even though we may conclude from the available information that Chinese Petroleum and Formosa Plastic did indeed raise and reduce their prices nearly in unison, we have found upon review of the FTC’s decision that the FTC had uncovered no direct evidence concerning a real agreement between Chinese Petroleum and Formosa Plastic for the concerted action. We cannot help but wonder whether rational, independent business strategies or concerted actions caused the parallel adjustment of gasoline prices. The issues arising from this case merit discussion.
Anti-cartel regulations have been in place for years; competent authorities around the world have constantly held the identification and suppression of cartels as a main goal. However, enterprises intending to engage in cartels have learned from past cases that to avoid punishment from the competent authority, they cannot make direct agreements for concerted actions. These enterprises thus develop other mechanisms or strategies to tacitly engage in cartels. Without any direct evidence, it becomes difficult for competent authorities to crackdown on cartels and more likely that the competent authorities will misunderstand or mistake other legal business conduct for illegal behavior. Such misunderstandings inevitably hinder a country’s economic development.
Consequently, our FTC and courts should learn to correctly determine the existence of collusion between enterprises using indirect evidence. Using American and European judgments and academic materials, this thesis studies how other countries have effectively dealt with this issue in order to show how we can improve our own ability to appropriately handle similar cases.
Subjects
聯合行為
合意
平行行為
間接證據
中油
台塑
concerted action
cartel
collusion
parallel behavior
indirect evidence
SDGs
Type
thesis
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