Dokkinhō Kōgi (An Introduction to the Competition Law of Japan - 7th edition)

Dokkinhō Kōgi was written with the aim of providing a common framework that is compatible with the competition laws of most jurisdictions. The first edition was published in 1997 and proposed four pillars to encourage an understanding of the law. These pillars are the prohibitions of collusion, exclusion, exploitation, and merger. Exploitation prohibition is said to be nonexistent in the United States, but it does exist with increasing importance in the European Union and Japan, among other jurisdictions.
 
The Antimonopoly Act of Japan is extremely complicated. However, if we discard the detailed introduction to the complicated aspects of the statutory provisions, the four pillars above can facilitate an understanding of the act. Competition lawyers, probably unlike lawyers majoring in other legal fields, tend to think according to a universally common framework and simply refer to statutory provisions only when making decisions. Thus, ignoring the national statute, at least in the first phase of introduction, does not necessarily damage the validity of a cognitive framework. Some leading competition lawyers have kindly told the author that the book has helped them to escape from the occupational labyrinth in order to survive in the profession.
 
Such succinct methods outlined in Dokkinhō Kōgi, currently in its seventh edition, have contributed to sensible and streamlined discussions regarding the Antimonopoly Act of Japan. Basic concepts, which had been neglected until the 1990's, currently constitute the essential elements that are needed in order to discuss the law. Notably, a systematic understanding of laws is a prerequisite for the rule of law, therefore avoiding arbitrary enforcement by authorities. Lawyers in some developing jurisdictions have offered the author the opportunity to talk about the impact and contributions of the book. The author is thinking about producing an English edition to make the book’s methods more easily available in other jurisdictions.
 

(Written by SHIRAISHI Tadashi, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2017)