A Fair Trade Commission advisory panel has issued a package of proposals that includes giving investigative rights to the antitrust watchdog and increasing penalties for companies that violate the Antimonopoly Law.
"We hope (such revisions to the law) will be realized as part of measures to promote economic structural reforms," Kenichi Miyazawa, an honorary professor at Hitotsubashi University, who chaired the panel, told a news conference Wednesday.
The package calls for allowing the FTC to conduct investigative raids on companies with court permission in the same manner as the National Tax Agency.
Without such power, it will be difficult to uncover price cartels and bid-rigging schemes, which are usually conducted secretly, the panel said.
Under the current law, the FTC must first file a criminal complaint if its on-the-spot investigation is blocked by suspects.
The panel proposed raising the ceiling on fines to between 300 billion yen and 500 billion yen from the current 100 billion yen on illegal price cartels.
The package also calls for increasing penalty surcharges to levels similar to the European Union's 10 percent of combined sales gained from products subject to cartels. Japan currently sets surcharges at 6 percent.
The panel also recommended that reduction and exemption of fines and penalties be allowed in cases where alleged conspirators cooperate with FTC investigations.
It also called for doubling the FTC's current staff of 570.