TAIWAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Stephen Wu, Yvonne Hsieh, Wei-Han Wu and Erica Chiu, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law
training sessions and awareness promo - tion activities for employees on topics such as energy conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; (c) conducting research on environmental sustainability issues and jointly establish - ing databases of relevant information on products or services; and (d) issuing joint statements on co-operation with government policies on environmen - tal sustainability. • Activities that would likely constitute concert - ed actions, but may be specifically approved in accordance with the law if the enterprises involved believe that such activities are con - ducive to environmental sustainability, such as: (a) joint procurement of equipment for the purpose of increasing energy efficiency and operational efficiency; (b) unification of the specifications of prod - ucts or components for the purpose of increasing resource recovery rates and reducing costs; (c) joint research, development and technol - ogy innovation for the purpose of en - couraging the recycling of resources and improving the quality of energy-saving products; (d) joint procurement of raw materials that are less harmful to the environment or joint efforts on reducing the use of prod - ucts made from environmentally unfriend - ly raw materials for the purpose of reduc - ing environmental pollution; and (e) other activities that involve mutual re - straint of competition but are beneficial to environmental sustainability. The TFTC explains that, when deciding whether to grant a special approval of a concerted action that has the purpose of environ - mental sustainability, the key lies in the
balance between the impact that such ac - tion will have on market competition and the benefits that such action will bring to environmental sustainability. • Activities that would likely constitute unlaw - ful concerted actions and threaten market competition, such as: (a) price-fixing – ie, jointly determining the price of goods or services on the grounds that they are environmentally sustainable; (b) allocating transaction counterparties – ie, jointly agreeing to divide up sales ter - ritories, only work with certain transac - tion counterparties, or not compete with certain transaction counterparties on the grounds of reducing costs on environ - mental sustainability; (c) quantity-fixing – ie, jointly determining the production and sales quantity as well as production capacity; (d) joint procurement or sales strategies – ie, jointly agreeing to only procure or sell certain goods or services on the ground of promoting environmentally sustainable goods or services; and (e) joint foreclosure – ie, preventing other enterprises from entering the market in the name of developing environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, the TFTC has also emphasised that the Guidelines only provide examples of business practices on environmental sustain - ability that may constitute concerted actions; whether a specific business practice is illegal will need to be determined by the TFTC based on the actual circumstances of the case. As noted above, the Guidelines reflect the TFTC’s recent enforcement stance, which places increased emphasis on environmental sustainability issues. Consequently, it is reason -
598 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook