The power of public guns, the suspension of the appointment of four major travel companies spreads in municipalities nationwide-Aomori City Corona rigging triggers

In response to the "cease and desist order" issued by the Japan Fair Trade Commission on May 30, 2024 for violating the Antimonopoly Act, the suspension of bidding nominations for four major travel agencies that were colluding in the new coronavirus business in Aomori City in FY2022 has spread to municipalities in Aomori Prefecture and nationwide.

Japan Fair Trade Commission Cease and Desist Order This is due to the fact that in the transfer of new coronavirus patients by Aomori City in FY2022, the travel giants "JTB", "Meitetsu Kanko Service", "Japan Travel Tohoku", and "Tobu Top Tours" colluded. In response to the cease and desist order, Aomori Prefecture announced on June 4 that it would suspend bidding for JTB and Meitetsu Kanko Service for one year, and Japan Travel Tohoku and Tobu Top Tours for six months. On June 5, Aomori City suspended bidding for 18 months for JTB and Meitetsu Kanko Service, and 9 months for Japan Travel Tohoku and Tobu Top Tours.

Currently, not only in Aomori Prefecture but also in municipalities nationwide, bidding nominations for four major travel companies are rapidly suspended. magnification It does. The suspension of the nomination of a municipality in response to a cease-and-desist order by the Japan Fair Trade Commission is based on a decision based on the presence or absence of business registration (service registration) in each municipality, and there is no uniform standard nationwide.

Near-two are not subject to cease and desist orders due to their application for reduction of surcharges.

In November 2023, the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a report on five major travel companies in Aomori City (including Japan Tourist). On-site inspection This is the result of a subsequent investigation that confirmed that the branch manager-level representative of the travel agency was colluding. Among them, Japan Tourist, which had a direct contract with Aomori City but subcontracted part of its business to another company without the city's permission, made a voluntary declaration to the Fair Trade Commission in advance and received an "application for reduction or exemption of surcharges," so it was not subject to the cease and desist order. The application for reduction of surcharges is a system that allows you to reduce the penalty by admitting fraud before the investigation by the Fair Trade Commission and cooperating with the investigation.

When I asked the Japan Tourist General Affairs Department about this, they said, "Last year, there were many cases of overbilling in corona-related projects of local governments nationwide detection He explained that when an in-house inspection was conducted, an inappropriate case was found in the work of Aomori City, and it was reported to the public collector's office," and "(the timing of the declaration) was before the on-site inspection." When asked whether the self-declaration led to on-site inspections by each company, he replied, "I don't know if our declaration led to on-site inspections."

The difference in the period of suspension of nomination of each company is the attitude of cooperation in the investigation

Among the companies that have received cease and desist orders, the period of suspension of bidding by local governments differs between Tobu Top Tour, Japan Travel Tohoku, Meitetsu Kanko Service and JTB, for example, six months for the former two companies and one year for the latter two. In this regard, the Japan Fair Trade Commission explained, "In addition to the application for reduction and exemption of surcharges before the investigation (this time, the next two), there is a production reduction system that can be received if a cooperative attitude is shown during the investigation," and goes on to explain that "the application for reduction and exemption of surcharges encourages self-reporting, and the production reduction system for cooperation in the investigation encourages the other party to cooperate with the investigation, leading to early clarification of fraud." Each municipality will refer to these and consider the period of suspension of bid nominations.

The clarification of bid-rigging is important for eradicating bid-rigging in public works, and it also indicates the need to review the bidding system of local governments. The Japan Fair Trade Commission has also pointed out that there are problems with the bidding process itself in Aomori City.

The impact of the cease and desist order of the public prosecution, the suspension of nominations spread to municipalities nationwide

In accordance with the cease and desist order of the Japan Fair Trade Commission, municipalities throughout Aomori Prefecture have suspended the nomination of the company in question ( 6.12 Tooku Ilbo "21 municipalities suspended for major travel bid-rigging"). The impact is not limited to Aomori Prefecture, but has spread to municipalities nationwide. The editorial department proceeded with the investigation, but at this time the spread of the impact was too great, so the investigation was suspended. If you search for "suspension of nomination travel agency name PDF", you will find information published by each local government. The Japan Fair Trade Commission's cease and desist orders against four major travel companies underscore the magnitude of the impact.

< wave of suspension of bidding nominations spreading to municipalities nationwide...... (Outside Aomori Prefecture) > as of June 17

* The period of suspension differs depending on each municipality.

The impact of the cease and desist order is recognized and judged by each municipality.

Cease and desist orders issued by the Japan Fair Trade Commission are made known to municipalities nationwide through public relations announcements and media reports (Japan Fair Trade Commission). The department in charge of contract review of the municipality that learns of the order will take measures to suspend bid nominations in accordance with the regulations, such as when the business subject to the cease and desist order is a registered business operator (service registration). In other words, it is conceivable that the suspension of bidding nominations for the four major travel companies will be further expanded in the future by local governments nationwide.

JATA - Request for Antimonopoly Law Compliance with Japan Association of Travel Agents

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) found that five companies, including Japan Tourist, had discussed bid-rigging at a meeting of the Japan Association of Travel Agents. In response, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) asked the JATA-Japan Association of Travel Agents to ensure that its member companies comply with the Antimonopoly Act. In response, JATA said on May 30 that "(the association's) compliance efforts were insufficient." announcement Have.

Hiroyuki Takahashi, chairman of the board of directors of the JATA-Japan Association of Travel Agents, a major travel industry, established an expert committee in December 2023 in response to a series of cases of fraud at member companies, including the arrest of a Japan tourist employee in a local government project during the coronavirus pandemic. In his New Year's message for 2024, he emphasized the importance of compliance, and in his March report on preventing recurrence, he said, "We will take the lead in implementing countermeasures to eradicate fraud from the industry." Declaration of Determination It was.

Each company promises corporate governance management on its official website

JTB, Meitetsu Kanko Service, Japan Travel Tohoku, and Tobu Top Tours, which received a cease-and-desist order from the Japan Fair Trade Commission, have been committing to strong governance management through their official websites to stakeholders such as shareholders, travelers, and business partners.