Competition Law in Asia-Pacific: A Practical Guide

This book - a practical full-length guide to competition law and practice in the region - draws on the experience of recognized competition law practice leaders in key Asia Pacific jurisdictions and enables practitioners to navigate the competition landscape in fifteen countries, from the most developed regimes to countries where competition law and policy are still emerging.

For easy reference and comparison, a chapter is dedicated to each country. Each chapter sets out the rules on anti-competitive agreements, cartels, merger control, restraints in vertical agreements and abuse of market power or dominance. There is also a table of key prohibitions for each country, allowing practitioners to compare regimes and quickly identify potential issues in each jurisdiction. Each chapter explains the origins and powers of competition law-decision-makers and law-makers, and describes key enforcement action and cases, illustrating not only the regulators' approach to enforcement but also businesses' approach to compliance.

After a general introduction, each chapter describes the competition law and practice of a specific country, and covers such topics as the following:

• scope of powers, structure and enforcement approach of the competition authority;
• availability of civil or administrative sanctions, criminal enforcement, and private actions;
• investigations: procedure, powers, burden of proof, appeal;
• substantive tests to assess the impact of conduct on competition;
• assessment of dominance or market power;
• merger notifications thresholds, clearance processes and timeframes, documents and evidence requires;
• key defences and exemptions;
• leniency/immunity programmes;
• inter-agency cooperation (internal and international);
• extraterritorial application; and
• recent developments and proposals for reform.

This thorough and up-to-date comparative analysis on what Asia Pacific countries are doing in the antitrust sector will be extremely valuable to readers worldwide. For businesses operating in the regions and their advisors, the book is an essential practical guide to law and procedure in each jurisdiction. It will be of inestimable value to professionals in this area of legal practice, whether in law forms, corporations, academia, government, or the judiciary.