Japan: China’s historic fines showed leniency for auto parts price-fixers

Last month’s historic fines issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission on a dozen Japanese car parts manufacturers made headlines as a demonstration of China’s ruthless competition policy. But new revelations show that the companies were actually shown leniency by the NDRC.

The companies applied to the NDRC’s leniency program and admitted to wrongdoing, allowing the firms to avoid the maximum fines, reports say. The program reduced their fines by 20 percent to 100 percent.

The developments were shown in documents released Monday in what reports described as a rare show of transparency by Chinese authorities. Experts speculate that the NDRC released the new information to demonstrate that it is not unfairly treating foreign companies.

The NDRC and China’s other competition authorities have been under fire in recent months for alleged bias against foreign firms, though China has denied these claims.

Full content: Japan News

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