In brief
The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission’s (TFTC) November 2025 approval for Dell Global B.V. now establishes a clear regulatory roadmap for corporates and their supply chain partners to enter into joint procurement arrangements for the purchase of renewable energy in Taiwan.
Corporates and their supply partners may aggregate demand on a collective basis and engage a third-party consultant firm as a negotiating intermediary to represent and corporate and its suppliers to negotiate for the price and entering into the renewable energy purchase contracts on an individual basis.
The TFTC’s approval of a joint procurement arrangement will be contingent upon each applicant strictly prohibiting the exchange of sensitive data with respect to the electricity procurement and information about their respective businesses, including product pricing, production volumes, and inventory levels.
The TFTC’s approval of an exemption will also require annual reporting to the TFTC on the implementation of the joint procurement arrangement.
In more detail
Market background
In Taiwan, corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs), under which corporates may purchase renewable energy from privately-owned renewable energy generation companies (instead of from the state-owned national utility company, Taipower) and also receive Taiwan Renewable Energy Certificates (T-RECs) to evidence their renewable or green energy usage, continue to be an avenue for companies seeking to achieve sustainability and decarbonization goals. The market is being further driven by regulatory requirements for renewable energy usage imposed on heavy electricity end-users and corporate ESG commitments. Recent trends indicate that given the extension of carbon footprint rules, corporates are increasingly extending renewable energy procurement efforts to include their supply chain partners. These initiatives often involve joint procurement arrangements, which introduce important considerations under Taiwan’s competition law.
Regulatory background
Under the Taiwan Fair Trade Act (TFTA), concerted actions — which may include joint procurement — are generally prohibited. However, Article 15 of the TFTA provides an exemption mechanism where such actions can be approved if they benefit the overall economy and public interest. Prior approval must be obtained from the TFTC before implementation.
In order to address the growing intersection between sustainability and competition law, the TFTC has issued the “Guidelines on Concerted Actions Involving Enterprises’ Responses to Environmental Sustainability” ("Guidelines") in February 2025. These Guidelines provide a clear compliance framework for businesses seeking to collaborate on environmental sustainability objectives without violating antitrust rules.
Recent TFTC decision
In November 2025, the TFTC conditionally approved Taiwan’s first concerted action exemption for sustainability purposes, granting approval for a five-year term for the applicants’ planning, negotiation and performance of the joint procurement arrangement (and which would include the supply period agreed under the CPPAs). The case involved Dell Global B.V. and eleven of its suppliers jointly procuring renewable energy totaling approximately 170 million kWh per year by aggregating each applicant’s individual renewable energy demand. A consulting firm assisted each applicant to separately negotiate procurement terms and purchase volumes with renewable energy generation companies and to enter into individual CPPAs. The parties applied to the TFTC for approval of the joint procurement arrangement.
Key points in the TFTC’s antitrust analysis
- Market impact: The TFTC concluded that the joint procurement volume was relatively small compared to the overall renewable energy market, minimizing risks of buyer power abuse.
- Competition preserved: Other enterprises would remain able to procure renewable energy, and competition on product price and quality would be unaffected.
- Public interest benefits: The TFTC recognized that joint procurement of renewable energy enhances bargaining efficiency, reduces transaction costs, promotes industrial competitiveness, and ultimately supports environmental sustainability.
TFTC’s conditions of approval
The TFTC granted its approval subject to the following conditions:
- Each applicant must not share or disclose sensitive procurement or operational information with each another, including but not limited to each applicant’s renewable energy procurement volume and pricing, as well as their operational information such as product pricing, production volume, inventory levels, transaction counterparties, and capacity utilization.
- Each applicant must not use this approval to engage in any other concerted actions. The applicants must not refuse any individual applicant’s withdrawal from the joint procurement arrangement and any change in the parties to the joint procurement arrangement is to be reported to the TFTC in writing.
- Each applicant must refrain from restricting the procurement volumes of other applicants or prohibiting further procurement of renewable energy by other applicants separate from the joint procurement arrangement.
- Each applicant must submit annual reports to the TFTC detailing the implementation of the joint procurement arrangement as well as copies of the executed CPPAs and any future amendments thereto.
Conclusion
This TFTC’s landmark decision, following the Guidelines, together with the TFTC’s landmark decision on Dell’s joint procurement arrangement, now provides a compliance roadmap for companies considering joint procurement arrangements for renewable energy and for collaboration between a corporate and its suppliers on procurement of renewable energy for a supply chain. As Taiwan accelerates its green energy transition and Taiwan’s high-tech manufacturing sector in particular is expected and in many cases required by US and European customers to use renewable energy, the Dell decision serves as an essential reference for designing scalable, supply-chain-wide solutions.
While joint procurement arrangements offer significant procurement benefits, including greater access to renewable energy and reducing transaction costs, these arrangements must be carefully designed to comply with competition law restrictions and requirements. In concluding joint procurement arrangements, proactive engagement with regulators to apply for and obtain any necessary exemption and adherence to best practices in structuring and executing joint procurement arrangements will be critical in ensuring competition law compliance.
Tom Chou, Senior Consultant, and Wan-Yu Lee, Associate, have contributed to this legal update.
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