June 2010

On May 27, State Administration of Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) published new draft regulations on monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant position and administrative monopoly for public comments. These sets of unveiled draft rules are resulted from pubic opinions and comments which SAIC has collected since June 2010, this is when SAIC first published the draft regulations. Within China’s antitrust law enforcement system, SAIC has the mandate to condemn non-price-related monopoly agreements, non-price-related abuse of dominant position and administrative monopoly. Furthermore, it has mandate to fashion implementing rules for the Anti-Monopoly Law of PRC (“AML”) too.

 Continue Reading SAIC Published New Draft Rules on Cartels, Abuse of Dominant Position and Administrative Monopoly

Leniency program is an effective tool in exposing cartels. This has been confirmed by over 20 antitrust jurisdictions having leniency program around the world. China joined the club on August 1, 2008, when the Anti-Monopoly Law of PRC (“AML”) came into effect. For the first time, AML expressly recognized leniency program in its intention to condemn monopoly agreements. However, AML only makes a passing reference to the policy in which “undertakings who voluntarily report to antitrust enforcement authorities on monopoly agreements and advance key evidence MAY be reduced or exempted from penalties”. Thus, it takes China’s trust busters to fashion rules to implement leniency policy.

Continue Reading China’s Leniency Program Taking a Hazy Shape