Abhandlungen

1. Japanese Anti-Trust Law and Contract Terminations with Discounters

2. Termination Disputes within the Distribution System for Luxury Cosmetics

1. Introduction

2. Background to these Disputes

3. Applicable Articles of the Anti-monopoly Act and the FTC Guidelines

4. Victories for Discounters before the Tokyo District Court (1993, 1994)

5. The First Tokyo High Court Decision (Shiseido v. Fujiki, 1994)

6. The FTC Recommendation against Shiseido (1995)

7. The Second Tokyo High Court Decision (Kao v. Egawa Kikaku, 1997)

8. The Supreme Court Decision (Kao v. Egawa Kikaku/Shiseido v. Fujiki, 1998)

9. Conclusion

1. The Influence of the FTC on the Civil Courts

2. The Influence of the Civil Courts on the FTC

3. Future Prospects

I. Introduction

Recently, there have been significant pressures both to lower prices and to restructure distribution channels in Japan. This has put a greater strain on many continuing commercial contracts, which have been described so extensively in Japanese literature.^[1] Economic pressures have not only caused the further restructuring of distribution systems and subsequent terminations of contracts by manufacturers, but have also resulted in a greater volume of termination disputes before the civil courts.

The most important factor is the current recession. It has left Japanese consumers with less purchasing power than before. Therefore, pressures to sell at lower prices have increased, even leading to deflationary pressures throughout the economy. This, in turn, triggered the sudden growth of discounters in the 1990s which had many repercussions in the distribution sector.