Authored by Michael Gu (michaelgu@anjielaw.com) and Yu Shuitian (yushuitian@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm
Two months after the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) published its last high-profile anti-monopoly penalty decisions (e.g. Japanese Auto Parts and Bearing Manufacturers case, Audi and Chrysler case), another anti-monopoly agency in China, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) steps up in antitrust enforcement in addition to its usual merger reviews with a new round of anti-monopoly crackdown. On 2 December 2014, for the first time ever, MOFCOM, the Chinese antitrust enforcement authority responsible for merger control, published three penalty decisions regarding concentration of undertakings. MOFCOM has announced that it was going to publicize its penalty decisions on undertakings which fail to file a notifiable merger as early as 21 March 2014, and now, here it comes.