Due Process and Transparency Requirements for Investigating Competition Cases in Taiwan
Click here to read the full article onlineIt is widely recognized in principle that due process and transparency requirements benefit both the competition agency and the investigated parties during the investigation of competition cases by making the final dispositions more fair, just, and persuasive. However, individual states might embrace various regulatory mechanisms to implement these requirements to reflect their distinctive legal traditions and cultural or economic backgrounds. This could therefore generate tension caused by conflicting procedural protections among competition jurisdictions. As the enforcement of competition law becomes more globalized, fragmented, and diversified, how to harmonize these types of discrepancies has also become an urgent challenge that faces global competition authorities. In this chapter, we use Taiwan as an example to illustrate and provide our initial thoughts on this issue. This chapter is structured as follows. Part 1 introduces the regulatory framework for due process and transparency requirements in Taiwan. Part 2 describes how these requirements are implemented during investigation procedures for competition cases. Part 3 highlights the problems associated with implementation in practice. Part 4 examines the likely causes for these problems and offers our preliminary thoughts on how these problems should be addressed. Part 5 concludes this chapter.