The Japanese FTC publishes a market research report on transactions between franchisers and franchisees

On September 2, 2020, the JFTC published a market research report (“Report”) on transactions between the headquarters of convenience stores (i.e., franchisers) and their franchisees. [1] Previously, the JFTC conducted a similar market research in 2011. The Report indicates some situations that could constitute unfair trade practices, such as customer inducement by unjust benefits and/or abuse of superior bargaining position (“ASBP”). The market research was conducted from October 2019 to August 2020. It includes a web questionnaire survey and a hearing survey. The questionnaires were sent to 57,524 franchisees, based on the lists