[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 777 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 777

   To establish the United States-Japan Joint Antitrust Consultative 
 Commission for intensive examination of antitrust activities in Japan 
                         and the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                April 7 (legislative day, March 3), 1993

Mr. Roth (for himself and Mr. Lieberman) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish the United States-Japan Joint Antitrust Consultative 
 Commission for intensive examination of antitrust activities in Japan 
                         and the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Joint Antitrust Consultative 
Commission Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Antitrust laws are an important legal tool for opening 
        markets to international competition and defusing trade 
        tension.
            (2) All nations should make it a priority to enact and 
        vigorously enforce strong competition laws to benefit 
        consumers, encourage international competition and foster 
        growth in jobs, productivity, and investment.
            (3) Japanese antimonopoly law is similar to United States 
        antitrust law, partly as a result of its formulation during 
        America's post-World War II occupation of Japan. However, there 
        are observable differences in the respective antitrust 
        enforcement environments of Japan and the United States.
            (4) In Japan--
                    (A) the lenient interpretation and enforcement of 
                the antimonopoly law is insufficient to prevent 
                business practices which result in significant barriers 
                to foreign entry into the Japanese market;
                    (B) private antitrust lawsuits are very difficult 
                to file and virtually impossible to win in Japan 
                because of strict requirements stipulating proof of 
                damages;
                    (C) due to political and bureaucratic pressures, 
                criminal prosecution of antitrust violations rarely 
                occurs in Japan;
                    (D) many cartels are exempted and legal under the 
                antimonopoly law in Japan. The large number of exempted 
                and legal cartels contributes to an environment in 
                which illegal cartels become less subject to criticism 
                and scrutiny; and
                    (E) the Japan Fair Trade Commission's capacity to 
                enforce antimonopoly law is limited by the small size 
                of its staff and the status of the Commission in the 
                hierarchy of Japanese bureaucracies.
            (5) In the United States--
                    (A) corporations may be apprehensive about 
                participating in certain business activities such as 
                joint ventures or exclusive distributorship 
                arrangements due to uncertainties concerning the 
                enforcement of antitrust law; and
                    (B) the cost of antitrust litigation, including the 
                risk of treble damages, may have a negative impact on 
                United States corporate competitiveness.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to encourage a review of the antitrust policies of 
        Japan and the United States in the context of a changing global 
        economy and to foster ways of improving competition in both 
        countries;
            (2) to encourage the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the 
        United States Department of Justice and United States Federal 
        Trade Commission toward more comparable levels of enforcement 
        activity;
            (3) to ensure that the Japan Fair Trade Commission 
        increasingly enforces the antimonopoly law based upon antitrust 
        principles of protecting competition;
            (4) to encourage Japan to end unfair business practices 
        that result in market foreclosure to foreign competition;
            (5) to increase awareness of criminal antitrust enforcement 
        as a means of addressing anticompetitive business behavior in 
        Japan;
            (6) to encourage the government of Japan to increase the 
        investigative power of the Japan Fair Trade Commission; and
            (7) to encourage the government of Japan to reduce the 
        number of cartels exempted from the antimonopoly law.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            ``antimonopoly law'' means codes enforced by the Japan Fair 
        Trade Commission to promote fair and free competition by 
        prohibiting private monopolization, unreasonable restraint of 
        trade, and unfair business practices.
            ``antitrust policy'' means the general principles by which 
        government is guided in maintaining competition in commercial 
        activities.
            ``antitrust law'' means the body of statutes, court 
        decisions, and other law designed to ensure the existence of 
        competition in commercial activities. Antitrust law in the 
        United States protects trade and commerce from unlawful 
        restraints such as price fixing, exclusive dealings, and 
        monopolies.
            ``Commission'' means the United States-Japan Joint 
        Antitrust Consultative Commission established by section 5.

SEC. 5. JOINT ANTITRUST CONSULTATIVE COMMISSION.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established the ``United States-Japan 
Joint Antitrust Consultative Commission''.
    (b) American Delegation.--
            (1) Membership.--The American delegation to the Commission 
        shall be composed of the following members:
                    (A) Members of Congress:
                            (i) The chairman of the Committee on 
                        Finance of the Senate, or the chairman's 
                        designee.
                            (ii) The ranking minority member of the 
                        Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the 
                        ranking minority member's designee.
                            (iii) The chairman of the Committee on Ways 
                        and Means of the House of Representatives, or 
                        the chairman's designee.
                            (iv) The ranking minority member of the 
                        Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
                        Representatives, or the ranking minority 
                        member's designee.
                            (v) The chairman of the Committee on the 
                        Judiciary of the Senate, or the chairman's 
                        designee.
                            (vi) The ranking minority member of the 
                        Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, or 
                        the ranking minority member's designee.
                            (vii) The chairman of the Committee on the 
                        Judiciary of the House of Representatives, or 
                        the chairman's designee.
                            (viii) The ranking minority member of 
                        Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
                        Representatives, or the ranking minority 
                        member's designee.
                            (ix) The chairman of the Committee on 
                        Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
                        Senate, or the chairman's designee.
                            (x) The ranking minority member of the 
                        Committee on Commerce, Science and 
                        Transportation of the Senate, or the ranking 
                        minority member's designee.
                            (xi) The chairman of the Committee on 
                        Energy and Commerce of the House of 
                        Representatives, or the chairman's designee.
                            (xii) The ranking minority member of the 
                        Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 
                        of Representatives, or the ranking minority 
                        member's designee.
                    (B) Executive officers:
                            (i) The Attorney General, or the Attorney 
                        General's designee.
                            (ii) The chairman of the Federal Trade 
                        Commission, or the chairman's designee.
                            (iii) The Secretary of State, or the 
                        Secretary's designee.
                            (iv) The Secretary of the Treasury, or the 
                        Secretary's designee.
                            (v) The Secretary of Commerce, or the 
                        Secretary's designee.
                            (vi) The United States Trade 
                        Representative, or the Trade Representative's 
                        designee.
            (2) Lead representative.--(A) The Attorney General, or the 
        Attorney General's designee, shall be the American delegation's 
        lead representative.
            (B) The lead representative shall--
                    (i) contact the Japanese lead representative to--
                            (I) set an agenda for the Commission's 
                        meetings; and
                            (II) set mutually convenient annual meeting 
                        dates;
                    (ii) supervise the establishment, procedures, and 
                structure of the Commission with the Japanese lead 
                representative, except such procedures shall allow 
                representatives of industries discussed at such 
                meetings an opportunity to present their views;
                    (iii) assemble and maintain the reports, records, 
                and other papers of the Commission for use by the 
                American delegation and the public; and
                    (iv) institute the comprehensive review required by 
                section 8.
    (c) Japanese Delegation.--
            (1) Contingency on commencement of activities.--The 
        commencement of activities under this Act by the American 
        delegation to the Commission is contingent on the creation by 
        the appropriate Japanese officials of a Japanese delegation 
        with representation from an appropriate range of institutions 
        and interests that participate in antitrust activities in 
        Japan, as determined by the lead representative of the American 
        delegation.
            (2) Membership.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
        Japanese delegation should have the same number of members as 
        the American delegation and be composed of representatives of 
        public, private, and other organizations involved in antitrust 
        activities in Japan. It is the sense of the Congress that such 
        a delegation should at a minimum include the following members:
                    (A) Members of the Diet:
                            (i) The chairman of the Budget Committee of 
                        the House of Representatives, or the chairman's 
                        designee.
                            (ii) The ranking member of the main 
                        opposition party of the Budget Committee of the 
                        House of Representatives, or the ranking 
                        member's designee.
                            (iii) The Budget Committee chairman of the 
                        House of Councillors, or the chairman's 
                        designee.
                            (iv) The ranking member of the main 
                        opposition party of the Budget Committee of the 
                        House of Councillors, or the ranking member's 
                        designee.
                            (v) The chairman of the Commerce Committee 
                        of the House of Representatives, or the 
                        chairman's designee.
                            (vi) The ranking member of the main 
                        opposition party of the Commerce Committee of 
                        the House of Representatives, or the ranking 
                        member's designee.
                            (vii) The chairman of the Commerce 
                        Committee of the House of Councillors, or the 
                        chairman's designee.
                            (viii) The ranking member of the main 
                        opposition party of the Commerce Committee of 
                        the House of Councillors, or the ranking 
                        member's designee.
                            (ix) The chairman of the Judiciary 
                        Committee of the House of Representatives, or 
                        the chairman's designee.
                            (x) The ranking member of the main 
                        opposition party of the Judiciary Committee of 
                        the House of Representatives, or the ranking 
                        member's designee.
                            (xi) The chairman of the Judiciary 
                        Committee of the House of Councillors, or the 
                        chairman's designee.
                            (xii) The ranking member of the main 
                        opposition party of the Judiciary Committee of 
                        the House of Councillors, or the ranking 
                        member's designee.
                    (B) Executive officers:
                            (i) The chairman of the Japan Fair Trade 
                        Commission, or the chairman's designee, and 1 
                        additional commissioner of the chairman's 
                        choice, or that commissioner's designee.
                            (ii) The Minister of Finance, or the 
                        Minister's designee.
                            (iii) The Minister of International Trade 
                        and Industry, or the Minister's designee.
                            (iv) The Minister of Foreign Affairs, or 
                        the Minister's designee.
                            (v) The Minister of Justice, or the 
                        Minister's designee.
            (3) Lead representative.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister's designee, should 
        appoint 1 of the members of the Japanese delegation as a lead 
        representative to contact the United States lead representative 
        to--
                    (A) set an agenda for the Commission's meetings;
                    (B) set mutually convenient annual meeting dates; 
                and
                    (C) perform such other duties as may be assigned to 
                the lead representative.
    (d) Meetings.--The Commission shall convene annually, with the 
first meeting to take place in Washington, D.C., in 1994 and the site 
of the meeting to alternate thereafter between the United States and 
Japan.
    (e) Federal Advisory Committee Act.--The Commission shall not be 
considered to be an advisory committee under the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).

SEC. 6. COMMISSION FUNCTIONS.

    The Commission shall--
            (1) discuss and make recommendations on long-term 
        structural differences in antitrust policy and short-term 
        antitrust disputes; and
            (2) serve as an open forum to promote more coherent 
        enforcement of antitrust law in Japan and the United States.

SEC. 7. REPORT.

    The recommendations and findings of the Commission, reflecting the 
major views expressed during the deliberations of the Commission, shall 
be completed and made public through issuance of a report in English by 
the agency from which the lead representative of the American 
delegation is selected, not more than 90 days after the Commission 
holds its annual meeting. It is the sense of Congress that the Japanese 
delegation should issue a Japanese language version of the report at 
the same time as the English language report is issued.

SEC. 8. COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW.

    The lead representative of the American delegation shall institute 
a comprehensive review of the activities and responsibilities of the 
Commission not later than 180 days after the second annual meeting of 
the Commission to determine--
            (1) whether the Commission is carrying out its purpose;
            (2) whether consistent with the purposes of this Act, 
        responsibilities assigned to the Commission should be revised; 
        and
            (3) whether the existence of the Commission should be 
        continued.

SEC. 9. COMPENSATION.

    Members of the American delegation to the Commission shall not be 
paid compensation for services performed on the Commission.

SEC. 10. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES.

    The expenses of departments and agencies of the executive branch 
and of members and committees of the Senate and of the House of 
Representatives in carrying out this Act, including travel expenses and 
expenses relating to preparation of the report under section 7, shall 
be paid out of general funds that are available and not specifically 
appropriated for other purposes.

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