Japanese Diet Approves Bill to Amend the Anti-Monopoly Act

On June 3, 2009, the Japanese Diet approved amendments to the Act Concerning Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade. The amendments modify the leniency program for cartel behavior, expand the range of conduct subject to penalty under the Anti-Monopoly Act and increase some of those penalties, and both update and expand the pre-merger notification regime.