Competition Law/ Anti-Monopoly Law

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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).

It should be recognized that the Regulation reflects great significance in many facets without doubt. For one thing, the substantive process of reviewing and assessing concentrations by the Ministry of Commerce is tranparentized in a large degree. As a result, relevant competitors, consumers and other stakeholders of interest could obtain much more convenience for the purpose of supervising antitrust enforcement.

In the second place, the Ministry took this opportunity to standardize in the Regulation, which factors that they will take the most account into in principle, which interests they will consider principally when balancing the pro-competitive and anti-competitive effects of concentration concerned. In this connection, the Regulation would possess the function of conducting, standardizing as well as facilitating the work of antitrust control to concentrations of the Ministry.Continue Reading The First Guideline for Reviewing Concentrations in China Has Been Freshly Baked

The Price Supervision, Inspection and Antitrust Bureau of NRDC has confirmed to the public on 2nd 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 …

On 29th 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 …

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.

The notice states that the would-be acquirer, Penelope, was incorporated specifically as a tool for the transaction. Alpha Private Equity Fund V is Penelope’s wholly-owned controlling shareholder – it invests in non-ferrous metal recycling and the production and sale of textile and home textile machinery. Alpha V is the largest shareholder in Uster technologies Co Ltd, holding 27.9% of the equity shares.

Savio, the proposed target, is a manufacturer of textile machinery. It produces electronic yarn clearers for winders, twisters and rotor-spinning frames. Phenanthrene Brothers Co Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Savio.Continue Reading Conditional Clearance Offers Further Insight on Concentrations

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.

Founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé is the world’s leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness company. Nestlé’s product lineup covers from baby food, bottled water, cereals, chocolate & confectionery, coffee, culinary, chilled & frozen food, dairy, drinks to food service, healthcare nutrition, ice cream, petcare, sport nutrition, and further to weight management.

Hsu Fu Chi is China’s largest listed confectionery company, with more than 16,000 sales outlets and 100 sales affiliates. In connection to its revenue, the first quarter of 2011 alone was Rmb1.51bn ($234m). Hsu Fu Chi focuses itself on chocolates, pastries and other sweets markets, and particularly is famous for a breakfast bar called Sachima. It should be recognized that Hsu Fu Chi already developed into a national brand within two decades. Voices from different communities, hence, expressed their worry that this event may ignite nationalist outcries just as it did with Coca-Cola’s negotiations with Huiyuan.Continue Reading Nestlé’s Filing of Acquiring China’ Largest Listed Confectionery Company is Accepted

On September 7th, 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.

The trigger for this lawsuit lands on the claim that Taiyuan Railway Bureau (“A” hereinafter) has not responded to the application from Shanxi transport Group Co., Ltd, (“B” hereinafter) of additional tickets outlet, in spite that B has been applying for the authorization since 2007.

According to the case description presented by B in the Indictment, the key points decisive to the case analysis are summarized as follow by sequence number:Continue Reading Taiyuan Railway Bureau is Sued by Private Enterprises Alleged Monopoly

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)

It should be recognized that the Regulation reflects great significance in many facets without doubt. For one thing, the substantive process of reviewing and assessing concentrations by the Ministry of Commerce is tranparentized in a large degree. As a result, relevant competitors, consumers and other stakeholders of interest could obtain much more convenience for the purpose of supervising antitrust enforcement.

In the second place, the Ministry took this opportunity to standardize in the Regulation, which factors that they will take the most account into in principle, which interests they will consider principally when balancing the pro-competitive and anti-competitive effects of concentration concerned. In this connection, the Regulation would possess the function of conducting, standardizing as well as facilitating the work of antitrust control to concentrations of the Ministry. Continue Reading The First Guideline For Reviewing Concentrations in China Was Freshly Baked

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."Continue Reading China and US Move Closer on Antitrust Collaboration