Authored by ZHAN Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com), SONG Ying (songying@anjielaw.com) & Stephanie WU (wuyuanyuan@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm.

On August 9 2018, the finalised China’s three-pronged plan for consolidating its antitrust agencies under the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) is released. This initiative has been anticipated and speculated on since the central government’s release of its structural reform plan on 21 March 2018. According to the government’s plan, the three-pronged plan should have been released on 20 June 2018, but this was substantially delayed due to differences of opinion regarding the reform.

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

In 2017 the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) undertook a number of legislative and antitrust enforcement activities. It launched more than 80 investigations into enterprises and administrative agencies and imposed more than Rmb500 million in fines – a steady increase compared with Rmb353.1 million in 2016.

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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.

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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