TAIWAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Stephen Wu, Yvonne Hsieh, Wei-Han Wu and Erica Chiu, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law
With respect to the timeline, if the TFTC does not make any objection to the filing within 30 working days following the filing date, the parties to the pro - posed transaction would be free to proceed with the combination. The TFTC may shorten the 30-day wait - ing period or extend it by up to another 60 working days if it deems necessary. It should be noted that the filing date refers to the date on which the TFTC confirms that all required docu - ments and information have been completed. To be specific, after receiving the initial filing, the TFTC may issue requests for information (RFIs), instructing the parties to provide supplemental information. The RFI procedure will end if and when the TFTC is satisfied that the parties have submitted all required docu - ments and information. Merger Review in the Era of Digital Economy To address the competition law issues arising from the emergence of novel business models in the digital economy and the rise of technology giants, the Digital Economy Competition Policy Task Force at the TFTC started to draft the White Paper on Competition Pol - icy in the Digital Economy in 2021. Following several rounds of Task Force meetings and Commissioners’ meetings, the TFTC released the draft White Paper on 2 March 2022. After taking opinions collected from various parties into account, the TFTC finalised the draft White Paper and released the official version on 20 December 2022 (“White Paper”). As the White Paper is the TFTC’s first comprehensive overview of competition issues specific to the digital economy along with its relevant enforcement stance and policy direction, it will definitely play a crucial role in shaping the future trends and development of Tai - wan’s regulatory regime on competition issues. Of the key topics explored in the White Paper, “Kill - er Acquisitions” and the “Role of Privacy in Merger Review” are relevant to merger control. Furthermore, in light of the rapid development of the generative AI industry and the potential issues regarding fair market competition, the TFTC issued the “Explanatory Materials for Soliciting Public Com - ments on Competition Law Issues Related to Genera -
tive AI” (the “AI Report Materials”) on 18 July 2025, aiming to gather first-hand information on the status of Taiwan’s AI-related industrial supply chains and competitive dynamics, and to solicit public input to serve as a reference for formulating future enforce - ment positions. The “Summary Report on Public Comments and Policy Statement on Competition Law Issues Related to Generative AI” (the “AI Report”) was finalised and released on 18 March 2026, after opinions from all parties were compiled and considered, and follow - ing multiple rounds of committee reviews. The AI Report discussed a total of seven potential competi - tion issues arising from the rise of AI, one of which relates to mergers. The TFTC noted that there are many cases of collaboration and acquisitions between big technology companies and start-ups in the fields of AI. As AI start-ups require financial support, many are not opposed to being acquired; in fact, being acquired may be their ultimate goal. Also, if start-ups obtain funding, computing resources and other assets through collaboration with big companies or investors, it can also help drive innovations that would be dif - ficult for a single company to achieve alone. Against this background, the TFTC believes that imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens on mergers and acquisitions could weaken incentives for innova - tion. On the other hand, when analysing the impact of collaboration on competition, the TFTC currently tends to apply the existing law to examine and evalu - ate the content of agreements between companies, rather than enacting new law. Killer acquisitions The unresolved issue in this area is whether major digital technology giants’ acquisitions of potentially competitive start-ups constitute violations of the com - petition law. Thus far, the TFTC has no experience of handling so-called “killer acquisitions”, even though it has dealt with conglomerate combination cases of technology giants and has accumulated law enforce - ment experience in examining merger cases from the perspective of “potential competition”. For future enforcement, the White Paper indicates that the TFTC will continue to monitor the international development trends and adjust relevant review standards and prin -
646 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook