TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephen Wu, Yvonne Hsieh, Wei-Han Wu and Erica Chiu, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law
7.2 Contacting Third Parties As stated in 7.1 Third-Party Rights , if the TFTC accepts a combination notification and decides to exercise its jurisdiction on the transaction, it will post a summary of the proposed transaction on its website for one week, to seek public opinion. It is unclear whether the TFTC will “market test” any remedies offered by the parties. 7.3 Confidentiality As stated in 7.1 Third-Party Rights , if the TFTC accepts a combination notification and decides to exercise its jurisdiction on the transaction, it will post a summary of the proposed transaction on its web - site for one week, to seek public opinion. Under such circumstances, the fact of the notification and/or a description of the transaction will be publicised. The parties may request the TFTC not to disclose specific confidential information to the public and to handle combination notifications confidentially. If the parties have any particular concerns about the TFTC’s public announcement, they can also submit an appli - cation requesting the TFTC not to disclose certain information regarding the combination transaction. However, whether such request will be granted is subject to the TFTC’s discretion. If the TFTC consid - ers that the information about the transaction has an impact on the Taiwanese market, it will reject the non-disclosure request and make a public announce - ment soliciting the public’s opinions. Nevertheless, the TFTC will generally not disclose the parties’ commer - cial information that is specifically marked confiden - tial in their filings to the general public, such as trade secrets. 7.4 Co-Operation With Other Jurisdictions While reviewing the filing for certain cross-border transactions, the TFTC will consult the regulatory authorities of the parties’ home countries. In addition, there are several co-operation agreements and mem - orandums for the application of competition regula - tions between the TFTC and the following countries: Paraguay, Eswatini, Japan, Indonesia, Panama, Aus - tralia, Canada, France, Hungary, Mongolia and New
Zealand. Co-operation between the TFTC and these countries can be anticipated. It is unclear whether such co-operation is simply on a general policy level or whether the TFTC exchanges specific transaction information with other jurisdic - tions. In practice, the TFTC will seek the parties’ consent before sharing information with other jurisdictions. 8. Appeals and Judicial Review 8.1 Access to Appeal and Judicial Review The parties (or any interested parties with legal stand - ing) may appeal against the TFTC’s administrative decision to the High Administrative Court for judicial review within two months of receiving said decision. The procedure of administrative litigation is basically the same as the procedure of civil litigation. The case will be heard in a court and the TFTC (as the defend - ant) and the parties subject to the decision (as the plaintiff) will be in front of judges in a formal legal pro - ceeding. Although the decision of the High Administrative Court can be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court for legal review, the Supreme Administrative Court will not hold any hearing. The High Administrative Court’s judgment will be reversed only when such judgment is legally flawed. 8.2 Typical Timeline for Appeals The parties (or any interested parties with legal stand - ing) can appeal against the TFTC’s decision to the court within two months of receiving the decision. The timeline for an appeal is approximately 12 to 18 months. As far as is known, no enterprise has filed an appeal in the High Administrative Court against the TFTC’s merger filing decision in the past five years. 8.3 Ability of Third Parties to Appeal Clearance Decisions If any clearance decision will have an adverse effect or impose burdens on a third party, such interested third party can appeal. As far as is known, no third
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