Concurrences Competition Law Journal, in partnership with the New York University School of Law, will hold its inaugural conference "Antitrust in Emerging and Developing Countries” on Friday, October 24, 2014, at the NYU campus. This one-day conference (8:30am to 6:30pm) brings together prestigious speakers from across the world. Leading lawyers, in-house consultant, and enterprises senior managers from emerging and developing countries like China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, among other jurisdictions will participate in the event.

Continue Reading Announcement for Concurrences Journal Event on Antitrust in Developing Countries

Authored by Michael Gu (michaelgu@anjielaw.com) and Yu Shuitian at AnJie Law Firm

Introduction

On 11 September 2014, China’s three antitrust law enforcers held a joint press conference in defense of the recent antitrust probes into multinationals including Microsoft and Japanese auto parts and bearing manufacturers. Issues surrounding the probes came to light after U.S. and European trade groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the European Union Chamber of Commerce said PRC antitrust investigators were unfairly targeting foreign businesses. Director General Mr. Shang Ming of the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), Director General Mr. Xu Kunlin of the Price Supervision and Anti-Monopoly Bureau of National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and Director General Ms. Ren Airong of AntiMonopoly and Anti-unfair Competition Enforcement Bureau of State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) attended the press conference. They spoke on their respective Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) enforcement positions and answered questions. In particular, they offered updates on the status of several high-profile cases, responded to criticism on selective law enforcement and lack of procedural fairness and transparency.

Continue Reading Chinese Competition Authorities Hold Joint Press Conference in Response to Criticism from E.U. and U.S. Trade Groups

Authored by Dr. Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com) and Dr. Annie Xue at AnJie Law Firm

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) handed down antitrust penalties totaling 1.24 billion yuan on 12 Japanese companies in the past August, including eight auto parts makers and four bearing manufacturers. This action came after a series of global crackdown on auto parts price cartels taking place in the U.S., the EU, Japan and Singapore, while reinforcing the trend of the Chinese antitrust authorities following their counterparts in other major antitrust regimes, especially the U.S. and the EU.

Continue Reading China’s Follow-on Public Antitrust Enforcement Intensifies

Authored by Michael Gu (michaelgu@anjielaw.com) at AnJie Law Firm

Within six years of implementation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law, the China’s law enforcement agency responsible for supervising price monopoly, the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC"), continues to strengthen its law enforcement efforts with rounds of “antitrust storm” that swept across a number of industries and companies along with record fines. This is especially true since 2013, the NDRC has probed into number of high-profile penalty cases, including the LCD Panel case [1], Moutai and Wuliangye case [2], Baby Formula case [3], Shanghai Gold Jewelers case [4] and Spectacle Lenses case [5]. Meanwhile, the NDRC has also launched investigation into the US high-tech giants, InterDigital and Qualcomm. For InterDigital case, the investigation has been suspended [6]. As for Qualcomm case [7], Qualcomm has manifested their willingness to cooperate with the NDRC in its investigation and has submitted relevant commitment.

Continue Reading Note of Caution: Record Fines on 12 Japnese Auto Parts and Bearing Manufactures – Analysis of the NDRC’s Penalty Decision and Countermeasures of Companies

Authored by Dr. Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com) and Dr. Song Ying from AnJie Law Firm

Since the very beginning of 2014, China’s public antitrust enforcement has attracted increasing attention domestically and abroad. Apart from business people, antitrust scholars and lawyers, even common people in the mainland have gotten to be familiar with the terminology of “antitrust”. The enforcement of China’s two antitrust investigative authorities, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”), has foreboded two tendencies recently, which will be elaborated in the following.

Continue Reading China’s Antitrust Enforcement is at Its Full Swing