Susan Ning

The Supreme Court Goes Online with Anti-Monopoly Law Principles：A Review of Qihoo v.s. Tencent Abuse of Market Dominance Case* Introduction On 15 November 2011, Qihoo issued proceedings against Tencent in the Guangdong Higher Court, asserting that Tencent had abused its dominant position, (...)

SAIC’s First Decision on Discriminatory Treatment* On 4 November 2014, the State Administrative for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) published a decision in which it found that the Pizhou branch of the Xuzhou City Tobacco Corporation (the “Pizhou Tobacco Branch”) had abused its dominant position in (...)

MOFCOM Takes a Major Step towards a Simplified Merger Control Procedure by Promulgating the Standards for Simple Cases* On February 11, 2014, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published the long-awaited Interim Provisions on the Standards for Simple Cases of Concentrations of Operators (the (...)

Another “Hold-Separate” Decision of MOFCOM—MediaTek’s Acquisition of MStar is Cleared with Conditions* On August 27, 2013, MOFCOM announced its conditional clearance on MediaTek Inc’s (“MediaTek”) 4 billion USD acquisition of MStar Semiconductor Inc (“MStar“) (the “Transaction“). This is the second (...)

MOFCOM Conditionally Cleared Baxter’s $4 Billion Acquisition of Gambro* On August 13, 2013, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on its website that it has conditionally approved the $4 billion acquisition of Swedish medical technology company Gambro AB by Baxter International. (...)

The Second RPM Investigation by NDRC within this Year* In May 2013, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC“) initiated the investigation against several infant formula companies for the alleged violation of Article 14 of the Antimonopoly Law (“AML“). This is the second (...)

Chinese Court Rendered Final Judgment on Rainbow v. Johnson & Johnson – the First Antitrust Private Action of Vertical Monopolistic Agreement* On 1 August 2013, the very same day of the fifth anniversary of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”), Shanghai Higher People’s Court (“Shanghai Higher (...)

Chinese Regulators Contemplate Antimonopoly Immunity Scheme for Airline Operators * On May 29, 2013, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC“) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (“CAAC“) held a seminar discussing the potential issues in setting up an antimonopoly immunity (...)

MOFCOM Cleared Marubeni’s Acquisition of Gavilon with Conditions* On April 22, 2013, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) cleared the proposed acquisition of Gavilon Holdings, LLC (“Gavilon“) by Marubeni Corp (“Marubeni“) (the “Transaction”) with conditions. This is the second case conditionally (...)

MOFCOM cleared Glencore’s acquisition of Xstrata with Conditions* On April 16, 2013, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) cleared the proposed acquisition of Xstrata plc (“Xstrata“) by Glencore International plc (“Glencore“) with conditions. Both structural and behavioral remedies are involved in the (...)

Path towards A More Streamlined Merger Control System – MOFCOM Publishes Draft Rules on Merger Remedies* To increase clarity and transparency on the merger remedy regime under the Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML“), China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) published the draft Rules Regarding Imposition of (...)

Chinese Consumer Wins Abuse of Dominance Civil Action against Tie-in Sales in Program Bundling* On January 5th, 2013, the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court (the “Court”) ruled in favor of a consumer who sued Shanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary (Group) Co., Ltd. (“Network”), the local (...)

MOFCOM cleared Joint Venture between ARM, Giesecke & Devrient and Gemalto with Conditions* On December 6th, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) cleared the proposed establishment of a joint venture (“JV“) by ARM Holdings plc (“ARM“), a UK semiconductor intellectual property (“IP“) (...)

This article has been nominated for the 2013 Antitrust Writing Awards. Click here to learn more about the Antitrust Writing Awards. Supreme Court of China Issues Judicial Interpretation Governing Private Antitrust Litigations* On 3 May 2012, China’s Supreme People’s Court issued the Rules of (...)

360 v. QQ-Abuse of Dominance Action Tried at Guangdong Higher Court* On April 18, the Guangdong Higher People’s Court held the first court hearing for the abuse of dominance action filed by Qihoo (the operator of 360 safety software) against Tencent (the operator of QQ instant messaging (...)

MOFCOM Getting Tough on Failure to Notify a Concentration* On 30 December 2011, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") promulgated the Interim Measures on Investigation and Punishment of Failure to Duly Notify Concentrations of Undertakings ("Interim Measures"), effective from February 1, 2012.1 (...)

MOFCOM Passed Provisional Rule on Failure to Notify on Concentration* On December 7, the Provisional Measures on Investigating and Penalizing Violation of Notification Obligations for Concentrations between Business Operators (Provisional Measures) were reviewed and discussed at the No. 57th (...)

Earlier Rumor Confirmed: China Telecom and China Unicom under Antitrust Investigation* On November 9, 2011, an earlier rumor indicating that China Telecom is under antitrust investigation for alleged abuse of dominance in the broadband market was confirmed by the National Development and (...)

MOFCOM Imposed Conditions on SOEs - GE/Shenhua Deal* Only 10 days after its conditional clearance of the Alpha V/Savio deal, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published, on 10 November 2011, the third conditional merger clearance of this year approving the proposed joint venture between (...)

MOFCOM’s 8th Conditional Clearance - Alpha V/Savio Deal* On 31 October 2011, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) publicly announced the eighth conditional merger clearance since the enactment of the Anti-monopoly Law (AML) in 2008. According to its announcement , MOFCOM cleared the proposed (...)

MOFCOM publishes draft rules on investigation procedures re failure to notify on concentrations* Pursuant to the Anti-Monopoly Law, transactions which are construed as "concentrations" (i.e. mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures) and which meet with specified turnover thresholds ; must be (...)

The Russian Potash Deal - first conditional clearance of 2011* On June 2, 2011, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) publicly announced the first conditional merger clearance in 2011. At its [2011] No. 33 Announcement, MOFCOM cleared Uralkali’s proposed acquisition of Silvinit (the Parties) (both (...)

First Public Enforcement Decision by SAIC against concrete manufacturers* Recently, the Jiangsu Administration for Industry & Commerce ("Jiangsu AIC") issued sanctions against the Concrete Committee of the Construction Materials and Construction Machinery Industry Association of (...)