Skip to main content

National Corporate Federation Under Investigation for Violation of Antitrust Law in Restriction on Athletes Changing Teams

On Dec. 20 it was learned that the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has launched an investigation into the Japan Industrial Track and Field Association (JITA), organizers of the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships and other major events, for possible violation of antitrust law in its policy of indefinitely barring athletes whose original team do not consent to grant them release.

Under the JITA policy, a team may issue a departing athlete a certificate of amicable release designating the athlete as eligible for transfer. Athletes with this designation may sign with another team, but without it they cannot register with another team and are not allowed to compete in events organized by the JITA. Its policy also stipulates that athletes who try to transfer without having a certificate of amicable release may be subject to having their personal JITA registration deleted and being suspended from competing.

The JFTC believes that these restrictions may violate the "Prohibited Acts by Business Associations" clause of Article 8 of the national Antitrust Act. A JITA spokesperson commented, "We can confirm that we are under investigation. In the past there have been instances of teams actively scouting other teams' athletes, and our policies were established based on fans' disapproval of such circumstances."

In February the JFTC announced its intention to protect the rights of freelance workers under the Antitrust Act. Regarding sports, beyond the question of whether multiple teams agreeing to restrict transfers constitutes a violation of law, it is comprehensively examining both sides of the situation including possible mitigating factors such as teams' desire to recoup the costs of their development of an athlete.

source article:
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2018/12/20/kiji/20181220s00056000342000c.html
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more