The Research On The Surcharge System Of The Japenese Antimonopoly Act

The surcharge system, as a unique style of administrative fine, has been the core of the liability system of the Japenese Antimonopoly Act(the JAMA) and played an active role in promoting the enfocement of the JAMA by several revisions during more than 30 years, since its introduction in 1977. The content of the surcharge includes four aspects: the object behaviour of the surcharge; the computational method of the surcharge; the leniency; the procedure of the surcharge order. The content and the development of the surcharge both have great Japenese characteristics. On the view of the legal nature, the surcharge both have the functions of disgorgement of undue profit and penalization of the illegal activities. It's a very rigid administrative fine in application compared with the fine system of the antimonopoly law of other countries. The Japanese Fair Trade Commission is the only competent authorities who charge the surcharge system, and the design of its procedure attach more attention to efficiency. The case law have played an important role in the development of the surcharge.There are lots of similarities on the legal curlture and national conditions between Japan and our country, that's why we should use the experence of the surcharge to perfect the antimonopoly law of our country. On the whole view, we should make the the liability system based on the fine system, which has been the trend of the antimonopoly law of other countries, for the criminal sanctions should be applied cautiously. Besides, we should perfect the fine system of our antimonopoly law, based on the real situation of our country, in next aspects:the maximum amount should be high enough to deter the serious violations; the detail rules of the leniency should be definituded; restrict the discretion of fine aptly; reduce the amount of fine to small and medium state-owned enterprises.