In December 2011, Taiwan dramatically increased the stakes for companies doing business in Taiwan. Cartel fines were increased more than 40-fold in Taiwan, and Taiwan became the most recent nation to adopt a full-fledged cartel leniency program. The new fines bring Taiwan into the range of hundreds of millions of US dollars or euros for future cases. The intended result of these two actions is a sharp increase in self-reported cartel conduct to Taiwan’s antitrust authorities and a steep escalation in Taiwan’s cartel fines. Taiwan thus joins other cartel enforcers in the race to post the steepest governmental fines against alleged cartel conduct.

At the same time, US and European enforcement actions against Taiwan-based firms are at an all-time high. Recently, US and EU competition authorities have both imposed significant penalties on Taiwanese companies. This has included US jail time announced for several Taiwanese executives.

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