Previously, the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission argued that the driving effect was far lower than the impact of market competition.Uber Eats' application to merge with Foodpanda was rejected, which may lead to Foodpanda’s parent company Delivery Hero deciding to withdraw Foodpanda’s business from the Taiwanese market, which may lead to Uber Eats becoming the only dominant player.
However, Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission Chairman Lee Mei stated that if Uber Eats abuses its scale to disrupt market competition, it could still be dealt with under existing regulations. Regarding whether Foodpanda will withdraw from the Taiwanese market, the Fair Trade Commission stated that this is a matter of business considerations and that further speculation is not permitted.
On the other hand, if Uber Eats acquires foodpanda under a different brand or as a third-party operator, the Fair Trading Commission also stated that if it is legal, it will still conduct a review using normal procedures to confirm whether the acquisition will affect market competition.
Regarding the Fair Trade Commission's original decision to extend the review period for Uber Eats' acquisition of foodpanda from December 12 to March 19, 2025, but the subsequent decision to reject Uber Eats' application to merge with foodpanda's business in a short period of time, Li Mei explained that the original decision to extend the review period was to allow the reviewer more time for analysis, but the subsequent discussions by the Fair Trade Commission resulted in a high degree of consensus, so the decision to reject the acquisition application was quickly made.
At the same time, Li Mei also explained that the Fair Trade Commission already has relevant laws and regulations to regulate the current digital service platforms' behaviors that affect market competition, but also emphasized that related derivative issues, such as how to improve law enforcement, can still be discussed later.
