On November 29 2010 the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) promulgated one substantive regulation and one procedural regulation regarding pricerelated monopolies (for further details please see "NDRC issues new anti-monopoly pricing regulations"). To accompany these regulations, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) issued the Regulation on Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements, the Regulation on Prohibiting Abuse of Market Dominance and the Regulation on Prohibiting Abuse of Executive Authority to Exclude and Limit Competition on December 1 2010.

Continue Reading SAIC regulations signal greater anti-monopoly enforcement

 The end of 2010 leaves China’s anti-monopoly regulators with several matters to consider, resolve or improve. The anti-monopoly framework is still not well established and consumer rights issues have been badly neglected. End consumers remain at risk of manipulation by collusion between large enterprises, especially on price. Recently, an instant noodle company stopped providing its products because a supermarket chain objected to a price increase and a mobile telecommunications company, facing claims of unreasonable tariffs, refused to reveal the basis of its pricing structure.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is in charge of price related monopoly agreements (ie, cartels), abuse of dominance and administrative monopoly issues. In comparison with the other two regulatory bodies – the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) – it remains severely understaffed. Moreover, price regulation is invariably a sensitive issue in China and often attracts criticism. The SAIC issued regulations on non-pricing-related monopoly agreements, abuse of dominance and administrative monopoly in May 2010 (for further details please see "New draft rules on monopoly agreements and abuse of dominant position"), but the NDRC has been slow to follow suit. As the world economy has started to emerge from the financial crisis, many Chinese and foreign economists have criticised distorted market prices and price mismatching in China, making the NDRC even more wary of taking action on anti-monopoly pricing issues.Continue Reading NDRC issues new anti-monopoly pricing regulations

On July 8th, MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce of People’s Republic of China) released The Provisional Rules on Implementing Divestiture of Assets or Businesses(“Provisional Rules”). This legislative move can be seen as China’s aggressive while at the same time, practical effort in the perfection of Chinese concentration review regime within the framework of Chinese Anti-monopoly Law (“AML”).

So far, China has only slightly less than two years of antitrust enforcement. Yet some antitrust professionals have already been amazed by how China has quickly become the world’s third most important merger control jurisdictions, and its influence is still ascending. MOFCOM, SAIC and NDRC, China’s three AML enforcement authorities, have issued nearly 20 regulations, guidelines, notices and provisions to implement AML in the areas of concentration, cartels, abusing dominance and administrative monopoly.

Continue Reading Divestiture Regulation: A Giant Leap in Chinese Concentration Review Regime