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Japan has a poor record of charging anti-monopoly law violators

FTC decision may raise US-Japan trade tempers
TOKYO. May 18: US^Japan trade tensions arc likely to escalate following a decision by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (FTC) not to pros ecute construction firms suspected of bid-rigging. newspa pers said Sunday, reports Reuter
Just as US Vice President Dan Quayle ended a three day fence-mending visit to Tokyo on Friday, the FTC announced It would warn, but not file criminal charges against 66 Japanese construction com panics suspected of bld-rigging.
The FTC launched Its Investigation after the Saitama
Prefecture Issued contracts worth 82 billion yen (630 mil lion dollar) over a three-year period, of which the construe tion group won orders worth 81 billion yen (623 million dollar).
This Is likely to become another point of tension tn up coming US -Japan Structural Impediments Initiative (Sil) talks." the largest-selling Yomiurl Shimbun daily said
Japan has a poor record when It comes to charging violators of Its anti-monopoly law
As a result the Issue is one of the most sensitive taken up In the Sil talks which are. In part, aimed at improving a<
ceSs to the Japanese market for foreign good*
Anti-Japanese sentiment in the US Congress Is growing, sparked by revisionists who argue -Incorrectly according to Quayle that Japan does not trade (airly
The US had a 43.4 billton dollar trade deficit with Japan last year
Quale, however, left Tokyo on Friday saying that friend ship and mutual respect were still tn ample supply The Vice-President's visit was to have erased unhappy memories of Bush s visit In January, when he and accompanying Industrialists harangued Japan about
Its trade policies. Japanese and US officials had earlier suggested.
The fear is (that the Incident) could spark another Are in the area of US-Japan trade friction. It Is likely to have international repercussions." the Dally Ashal Shimbun said
^The construction firms, including large corporations Including Kajima Corp and Kumagai Gum! Co. formed a group in Saitama. north of Tokyo, in 1972. and are suspected of engaging in "Dango" or bld rigging from April 1988 until. June 1991. when they disbanded
Bid-rigging refers to the
collusive bidding which has historically occurred tn the Japanese construction Indus ’O'
Before bidding begins, construction companies decide among themselves the range of prices they will offer, circumventing the free-market principle of open bidding
Ryukoku University Pro fessor Hiroshi Okumura said the FTCs decision not to prosecute has led some people to believe that the Watchdog Commission came under pressure from influential politicians linked to construction firms, according to Kyodo news agency
Just last month, the Untied States decided to extend its anti trust laws to Japanese and other foreign cartels that lock out US exports.
The PTC. however. Is trying to boost its Image. In November last year, the Commission filed charges against eight major food -wrapping makers for alleged price-fixing the first such case
TTie'^fti has also submitted a bill to parliament to Increase the maximum fine for collusive business practices from the current maximum of five million yen (58,500 dollar) to 100 million yen (770.000 dollar).