The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday issued large fines to Party World and Holiday KTV for violating fair trade laws by merging and jointly managing much of their businesses despite having been explicitly warned against doing so.
Not only does Party World hold more than half of the seats on Holiday’s board of directors, it also has real control over Holiday’s management and hiring decisions, commission spokesperson Shih Hui-fen (施惠芬) said.
The commission said that its investigation showed that since the re-election of Holiday’s board on June 13, 2008, Party World now directly or indirectly holds three out of five director seats and two out of three supervisor seats on the board.
One of Party World’s members on the board of directors also serves as chief executive officer of Holiday, which shows that the two enterprises have entered into a mutual agreement to jointly own and operate their businesses, Shih said.
Aside from executives sharing management decisions, other activities were also probed by the commission, such as Holiday authorizing Party World to run its branch on Taipei’s Linsen N Road (林森北路) and office rent-lease contracts between the two companies.
The commission said that Party World and Holiday had filed more than one request with it requesting a merger, but that these had been rejected out of a desire to maintain a competitive market and concerns that a merger of the two companies could create a monopoly. Despite being prohibited by the FTC from merging their businesses, the two companies — while separate entities on paper — now conduct cooperative activities, Shih said.
The commission fined Party World and Holiday NT$3 million (US$94,000) and NT$1.5 million respectively for violating Article 11 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法). Shih said the heavy fines were issued after considering the relative size of each company, as well as market share and repeated offenses despite numerous warnings.
The commission also ordered executives and directors who hold positions at both firms to give up one of those jobs immediately.
Neither Party World nor Holiday returned calls seeking comment yesterday.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it