Unfair competition cases have consistently dominated the Taiwanese enforcement docket since the establishment of the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC) more than 30 years ago. They account for more than 50% of cases, and the number is steadily growing.

The two main provisions on unfair competition in the Fair Trade Act are Article 21 (false advertising) and Article 25 (deceptive and obviously unfair conduct). Both provisions were modeled after Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of the US. However, compared to the US framework, the Taiwanese analytical approaches are becoming increasingly formalistic, with less emphasis on the market impacts from the practices under review. This trend has gradually distanced the analytical framework for unfair competition cases from that of antitrust cases, even though both are governed by and subject to the same legislative purpose stipulated in the same code.

On 12–13 October, Director Mike LeGower and Affiliated Academic Michael Baye will share their consumer protection and FTC expertise with the TFTC in the “Unfair Competition and Economic Analysis Workshop.” Dr. Baye is a former Chief Economist at the FTC, and Dr. LeGower is a former Deputy Assistant Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics. They will discuss how to apply economic analysis to four types of unfair conduct: (1) false advertising; (2) keyword advertising; (3) improper solicitation of customers; and (4) information disclosure. Drawing on their deep experience at the FTC, Dr. LeGower and Dr. Baye were invited to share their insights on the FTC’s Consumer Protection Division to help strengthen Taiwanese enforcement against unfair competition conduct in a way that is more focused on actual market effects and thereby narrowing the regulatory gap with antitrust cases.