China Law Vision : China Insurance & Anti-Trust Lawyer : Dr. Zhan Hao : Grandall Legal Group : Anti-Monopoly & Competition Law : China Law Vision Blog

The Price Supervision, Inspection and Antitrust Bureau of NRDC has confirmed to the public on 2^nd December 2011, that they have received applications from China Unicom and China Telecom for the suspension of probe on alleged abuse of dominant position by the parties in last month. In addition, China Telecom also submitted a proposal of rectifying and reforming to NRDC, with the expectation to be awarded a leniency treatment. The proposal of rectifying and reforming is comprised of mainly the following aspects:

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On 29^th November 2011, an official meeting was held between Chinese delegations led by MOFCOM’s vice minister Gao Hucheng and delegations of US antitrust agencies, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ). It is the first official high-level talk between public enforcement agencies of China and US, since DOJ and FTC signed an antitrust memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China's three antimonopoly agencies in July 2011, therefore, afforded with profound significance in terms of enhancing bilateral communication and cooperation among them.

By taking this opportunity, both sides reaffirmed and emphasized the cooperation concurred in the MOU this July, including significant issues of cooperation on investigations of two sides, confidentiality obligations, exchange of information and so on.

Consensus was reached between both sides that this meeting was of help to deepen the mutual understanding of antitrust agencies of two countries, with respect to competition policies and antitrust enforcement, to share experience and promote a further-step cooperation between the two biggest economic territories.

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On October 31 2011 the Ministry of Commerce posted Notice 73 in its website, announcing the clearance of a proposed concentration between Penelope Co Ltd and Savio Macchine Tessili SpA on certain conditions. The ministry's reasoning and analysis shed light on its approach to the review of concentrations on anti-monopoly grounds.

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On October 10 2011 one of China's largest retail websites, Taobao Mall - known as Tmall - announced a new set of rules, which included the imposition of a high annual technical service fee and an increased security deposit for its vendors. Tmall stated that the new rules were intended to ensure the provision of high-quality goods and services and to discourage counterfeiting and price wars.

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A spokeswoman from the Ministry of Commerce publicly declared in the recent, that the Ministry has officially accepted the notification on Nestlé’s acquisition of Hsu Fu Chi. If the Ministry turns on the green light for this filing it could be one of the biggest foreign takeovers of a Chinese undertaking historically.

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On September 7^th, 2011, an antitrust litigation against Taiyuan Railway Bureau was brought to Taiyuan Xinghualing Court on the ground that Taiyuan Railway Bureau violated Anti-monopoly Law and Unfair Competition Law of PRC by its administrative omission.

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With already more than 3 years of practice experience concerning antitrust review to concentrations, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China in recent publicly announced its first set of guideline thereof on August 29, 2011, namely, “Provisional Regulation on the Assessment on the Competitive Effects of Concentration of Undertakings ( it would be abbreviated as “the Regulation” hereinafter)

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On July 27 2011 China's three anti-monopoly agencies - the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce - signed an antitrust and anti-monopoly memorandum of understanding with the US Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice in Beijing, with the aim of promoting international communication and cooperation between the agencies.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz stated:

"From the first suggestion to this final signed [memorandum of understanding], both countries has been preparing for two years. During the preparation period, we have established a mutual and steady trust relationship, and made the encouraging goal on market competition."

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 Nestlé has announced that it plans to commit around $1.7 billion to the acquisition of a 60% share in confectionery manufacturer Hsu Fu Chi. The turnovers of the undertakings involved in the transaction are above the threshold for concentration filing and the deal is subject to anti-monopoly review.

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