The Japan Fair Trade Commission has revised the guidelines for transactions between convenience store headquarters and merchants, and refusal of discussions on a 24-hour business review could be an abuse of the predominant position under antitrust law. Clarified.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has revised the guidelines for transactions between convenience store headquarters and affiliated stores and announced them on the 28th.
It stipulates that the headquarters' refusal to discuss a 24-hour review with merchants could be an abuse of its predominant position under antitrust law.
In addition, the headquarters will place orders for products that it wants to sell from affiliated stores without permission, and will carry out "dominant" to centrally open stores in certain areas in order to retain customers, contrary to prior agreements with affiliated stores. However, it is said that it may be a problem under the Antimonopoly Act.
In addition, it is desirable to build a mechanism that makes it easier for member stores to discount foods that are about to expire, and when recruiting owners of member stores, the actual situation such as labor shortages and soaring labor costs It needs to be fully explained.
Ichiro Kawakami, Chief of the Corporate Transactions Division of the Japan Fair Trade Commission, said, "I know that the convenience store headquarters is already conducting voluntary inspections and improvements, but I would like to continue to pay close attention so that it can continue autonomously." I will.