Society

Rakuten, Booking.com, Expedia raided by Japan antitrust watchdog

Apr 11 (Japan Today) - Japan's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday raided the offices of Rakuten Inc and two other online booking operators, alleging they hurt fair trade by requiring accommodation clients offer their lowest prices on their platforms, according to a source close to the matter.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission's probe comes amid its closer scrutiny of alleged obscure business transactions involving providers of digital platforms for the sale of products and services via search engines and e-commerce sites, among other avenues.

According to the source, Tokyo-based Rakuten, U.S. firm Expedia Group Inc and Dutch outfit Booking.com B.V. have, for several years, allegedly urged clients to set accommodation prices the same as, or lower than, those they offered on rival websites and on hotels' official sites.

Rakuten said it "will fully cooperate with the investigation".

In August 2016, the commission conducted a similar on-site probe of Amazon Japan, on suspicion it signed contracts with suppliers under which they agreed to make their product line-ups and prices competitive, or at least match those on rival online retailers.

The commission terminated its probe in June 2017 once the company retracted such conditions, without ruling whether antitrust law had been violated.

In March last year, the commission again raided Amazon Japan for allegedly violating the antitrust law by having suppliers shoulder part of the costs to cover discounts the retailer applied to goods. That investigation is ongoing.

Source: FNNnewsCH

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