Authored by Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com) ，Stephanie Wu ( wuyuanyuan@anjielaw.com) and Song Ying (songying@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm.

The concept of “shifting alliances” is derived from EU competition law. According to paragraph 80 of the Commission Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (2008/C 95/01) (the “Notice”), Where there is no stable majority in the decision-making procedure and the majority can on each occasion be any of the various combinations possible amongst the minority shareholders, it cannot be assumed that the minority shareholders (or a certain group thereof) will jointly control the undertaking . For example, in the case of an undertaking where three shareholders each own one-third of the share capital and each elect one-third of the members of the Board of Directors, the shareholders do not have joint control since decisions are required to be taken on the basis of a simple majority.

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Authored byZhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com) ，Stephanie Wu ( wuyuanyuan@anjielaw.com) and Song Ying (songying@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm.

In around ten years of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) enforcement history, there have seen a number of public enforcement cases associated with collective boycott among competitors (see Table 1).   Both the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and/or their competent subsidiaries investigated collective boycott among competitors and issued infringement decisions, and in one case, a commitment decision.

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Authored by Song Ying (songying@anjielaw.com) , Ma Chenghao (machenghao@anjielaw.com) ，Wei Fei ( weifei@anjielaw.com) and Sharif Hendry (sharifhendry@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm.

On January 11 2018, following the media report that certain mobile phone application software was infringing user privacy, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organised talks with three internet companies. The ministry pointed out that all three companies had collected and used users’ personal information, without fully disclosing to the users the purpose of its use in advance. The three companies must now conduct immediate rectifications to fully protect users’ rights to be informed and have a choice regarding the collection and use of their personal information.

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Authored by Ren Gulong (rengulong@anjielaw.com) ，Zhang Yuan(zhangyuan@anjielaw.com)，Yang Anshu(yanganshu@anjielaw.com),  Wen Xianglai(wenxianglai@anjielaw.com) & Hu Jianan(hujianan@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

On 19th March 2018, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) published the Notice of People’s Bank of China No.7 [2018] (the “Notice”), which removes restriction on payment services provided by foreign-invested payment institutions and sets up the rules and regulatory requirements. This Notice has followed the instructions of the 19th CPC National Congress on speeding up the reform process and promoting the full opening of the payment service market. It will lead to a new era of payment industry in China.

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Authored by Ren Gulong (rengulong@anjielaw.com) & Zhang Yuan(zhangyuan@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

On 18 March 2018, China’s lawmaker, the National People’s Congress approved a reform plan for the institutional organizations of the State Council, China’s top administrative authority (the "Reform"). Among various substantial restructuring of governmental departments, one of the key part is the restructuring of the financial regulators. This is a substantial reform since 2002 and ends up the framework of separate institutional regulation by one central bank plus three commissions.

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Authored by Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com) ，Stephanie Wu ( wuyuanyuan@anjielaw.com) and Song Ying (songying@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm.

 On March 13, 2018, Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China submitted a proposal to the People’s Congress in session to review and consider the "Institutional Reform Program of the State Council" ("Program"), shedding light on plans to consolidate the antitrust enforcement powers under three agencies (the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of Commerce) into one agency under the State Administration for Market Supervision ("SAMS"). Without suspension, the Program was passed by the People’s Congress and was announced officially on March 24, 2018.

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Authored by Arthur Dong (dongxiao@anjielaw.com) & Darren Mayberry (darren.mayberry@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

Arbitration clauses benefit from simplicity. The best arbitration clauses also inform. Rarely are they inventive or creative. This is true for Chinese arbitration, or any other. Arbitration clauses should be tailored to your contract’s purpose and your firm’s needs. Above all, construct your arbitration clause with an eye towards clarity, and not towards partisan advantage.

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 Authored by Michael Gu (michaelgu@anjielaw.com) adn Sun Sihui(sunsihui@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

Introduction

The year 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of the promulgation of China’s Anti-monopoly Law.

The country’s three antitrust enforcement agencies – the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), theNational Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Industryand Commerce (SAIC) – used their extensive experience to continuously reinforce their professionalcompetence and enforcement efficiency.

Generally, antitrust enforcement has become the norm. As regards antitrust investigations in 2017,both the number and influence of the concluded cases published by the NDRC and SAIC appeared todecrease compared with 2016. However, the two agencies maintained a steady rate of antitrustenforcement.

Meanwhile, MOFCOM registered an upsurge in the number of conditionally cleared cases duringconcentration reviews. In addition, it strengthened its antitrust enforcement efforts in relation tonon-filers that should have notified MOFCOM of their concentrations.

By reviewing MOFCOM’s major antitrust enforcement events in 2017, this update summarizes the characteristics and developments of merger control review and provides an outlook of the trends in2018.

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 Authored by Ren Gulong (rengulong@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

In January, 2018, China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) released the Interim Measures for the Administration of Equity in Commercial Banks (“the Measures”) to prevent and punish illegal acts of shareholders that harm the interests of banks and to ensure the sound operation and healthy development of commercial banks.

Private capital has been enthusiastic in setting up or acquiring banking institutions in the past several years. In the meantime, a series of problems arose, acquisitions of bank shares with non-proprietary funds or using entrustment structure, the illegal transfer of interests between a bank and its shareholder.

In January, 2018, China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) released the Interim Measures for the Administration of Equity in Commercial Banks (“the Measures”) to prevent and punish illegal acts of shareholders that harm the interests of banks and to ensure the sound operation and healthy development of commercial banks. The Measures regulates major shareholders of commercial banks, strengthens the examination of shareholders’ qualifications and intensify the investigation and punishment of illegal acts.

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 Authored by Ren Gulong (rengulong@anjielaw.com) and Yang Aushu(yanganshu@anjielaw.com) and Xiao Yao (xiaoyao@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

Entrusted loan is a special term in Chinese financial market, which refers to aloan provided by a corporate lender to a corporate borrower through a commercial bank who acts as a trustee of the lender. Entrusted loans, together with trust products, P2P lending and other off-balance sheet business are considered as shadow banking in China. Since the global financial crisis, China’s shadow banking grew dramatically to provide loans to borrowers who cannot get credit from banks. According to People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the entrusted loans reached 13.97 trillion yuan by end of 2017, accounting for 8% of the aggregate financing in China. Though shadow banking has played a positive role for economic growth, there is growing concern on its risks, which is multi-faceted, hidden, complex, and contagious.

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