Last Hurdle for Merck’s Acquisition of AZ Electronics Removed: MOFCOM’s 23rd Conditional Clearance* Following the antitrust watchdog in Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the United States, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM) conditionally cleared Merck KGaA’s (Merck) (...)

China Issues New Insurance Merger Rules* Level play ground, optimizing industry structure, promoting competitiveness, and enriching the risk management tool kit of the insurance institutes”, quoting a statement of CIRC posted on its website. Promotion of Competition CIRC’s partially relaxed (...)

A Rational Thinking on the Refusal to License Intellectual Property under China’s Antitrust Legal Framework* 1. Introduction This article will address the perplexing issue of refusal to license a patent or copyright to other undertakings conducted by intellectual property proprietors under (...)

Chinese Court’s Roadmap on Vertical Monopoly Analysis: Some Comments on the Final Judgment on Rainbow vs. Johnson & Johnson Case* On August 1 2013, Shanghai People’s High Court (the Court) handed down judgment on the first private antitrust action involving vertical agreements under the (...)

On August 1 2013, Shanghai People’s High Court (the Court) handed down judgment on the first private antitrust action involving vertical agreements under the minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) clause of China’s Anti-monopoly Law (AML). The Court rescinded the judgment of the first instance (...)

Tencent Defeats Qihoo 360 in First Antitrust Litigation Involving Instant Messaging Services* The simmering war between two Chinese giant internet companies Qihoo 360 Technology Co., Ltd. (Qihoo 360) and Tencent Inc. (Tencent) culminated in Qihoo 360 losing the first antitrust litigation (...)

NDRC Imposed the Penalty against LCD Panel Companies for Their Monopolistic Behavior* China’s National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) has imposed a heavy penalty of total RMB 353 million yuan against six companies for the monopolistic behavior of price-fixing on liquid crystal display (...)

The First Judicial Interpretation on the Anti-monopoly Private Litigation in China* On 4th May, 2012, the People’s Supreme Court issued the Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in relation to Trials of Monopoly Civil Disputes arising from Monopolistic Conducts (The (...)

Taiyuan Railway Bureau is Sued by Private Enterprises Alleged Monopoly* 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 (...)

The First Guideline For Reviewing Concentrations in China Was Freshly Baked* 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 (...)

China and US move closer on antitrust collaboration* 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 (...)

Nestlé’s Filing of Acquiring China’ Largest Listed Confectionery Company is Accepted* 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 (...)

Can companies avoid filing concentrations?* When a merger, acquisition or joint venture is connected to the Chinese market and is treated as a concentration under China’s Anti-monopoly Law, a company’s first question to its lawyer is likely to be whether the transaction must be filed with the (...)

The Supreme Court Issued Judicial Interpretation on the Anti-monopoly Civil Procedure* On April 25th, the Supreme Court issued Provisions On a Number of Issues Applicable to the Trial of Monopoly Civil Dispute Cases (the “Exposure Draft”) for public comments. 　　　　 Totalling 20 articles, this (...)

SAIC regulations signal greater anti-monopoly enforcement* 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 (...)

NDRC issues new anti-monopoly pricing regulations* 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 (...)

Revised Unfair Competition Law responds to changing economy* Introduction The Unfair Competition Law, which was enacted in 1993, has been described as the constitution of the market economy. However, China’s rapid social and economic development has given rise to new forms of unfair (...)

Market dominance and the Internet: new industry, new rules?* China’s biggest encyclopaedia website, Hudong.com, has requested an anti-monopoly review of Baidu, the leading Chinese internet search engine. Hudong.com is asking the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) to fine (...)

Conditional approval for Novartis’s acquisition of Alcon* Introduction The Ministry of Commerce’s Anti-monopoly Bureau approved Novartis’s acquisition of Alcon on August 13 2010, subject to conditions.(1) The ministry accepted the filing in respect of the acquisition on April 20 2010 and (...)

Divestiture Regulation: A Giant Leap in Chinese Concentration Review Regime* 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 Leniency Program Taking a Hazy Shape* Leniency program is an effective tool in exposing cartels. This has been confirmed by over 20 antitrust jurisdictions having leniency program around the world. China joined the club on August 1, 2008, when the Anti-Monopoly Law of PRC (“AML”) came (...)

A Look At the New Rule On Financial Integrated Operation: From the Perspective of Competition Law* On November 26, 2009, China’s Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) issued the Pilot Administrative Measures for Commercial Banks to Make Equity Investment in Insurance Companies (the “Measures”). (...)

The Ending of the ’China Mobile’ Case* This is an article corresponding to the China Mobile case which was discussed at China Law Vision on April 21, 2009. On 23 October 2009 the Beijing Dongcheng District People’s Court announced the settlement of an Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) case brought by Zhou (...)