Competition Law/ Anti-Monopoly Law

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Since October 2008, Private oil companies in China have been urging one another to take advantage of the Anti-Monopoly Law（AML） to secure a stable supply of oil and avoid over-reliance on the country’s two major oil producers for survival. They want new policies to create a level playing field. Currently they depend on the oil supplies of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the China Petroleum and Chemicals Corporation (Sinopec) as they are forbidden by law to extract or import their own.

Continue Reading How Private Oil Companies Face the Anti-monopoly Law in China

During the drafting of the Chinese Anti-monopoly Law (AML), the level at which the threshold of concentration notification was to be set, aroused fierce debate. In the end however, AML did not specifically stipulate the notification criteria in detail.Article 21 of AML states:

Business operators shall declare in advance the concentration reaching the threshold of declaration prescribed by the State Council to the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency, otherwise, they shall not implement the concentration.

Such a vaguely worded clause has caused confusion within the legal profession. It certainly begs the question: Why did AML not explicitly stipulate the threshold of notification? Examining both the lawmaking process prior to the creation of AML as well as the drafting of AML itself may prove to be helpful. 

Continue Reading The Threshold of Concentration: Anti-monopoly Notification in China

November 2008, Mr. Xi Xiaoming, Vice Chief Justice of the Chinese Supreme Court, informed the media the Chinese Supreme Court would initiate drafting of judicial explanations complimenting the Chinese Anti-monopoly Law (AML). Before such formal expression, another Justice in the No.3 Civil Division of the Chinese Supreme Court publicly stated plaintiffs may file civil AML cases directly, bypassing the wait for administrative decisions.

Due to the characteristic of the AML, the administrative departments, other than courts, are the leading force in law enforcement. Presently, there is uncertainty in the AML administrative procedure and administrative departments take caution in announcements and practices. In such an atmosphere, Chinese courts come to the front.Continue Reading The AML sword, How Chinese Courts “hold” it ?

It is difficult to overstate the importance of concentration control regulations in the broader context of Chinese Anti-trust law as regulated by the Anti-monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China (Anti-monopoly). No area of anti-monopoly enforcement commands closer scrutiny or arouses more impassioned debate. In fact, creating a proper definition for concentration was the most vigorously contested issue during the drafting of the new Anti-monopoly Law.Continue Reading The Concept of Concentration under Chinese Anti-trust Law