The Chinese MOFCOM finalizes new interim provisions on the assessment of anticompetitive effects of mergers

On 2 September 2011, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published Provisional Rules on the Assessment of the Competitive Effects of a Concentration of Business Operators (Announcement [2011] No. 55, the Rules). They entered into force on the same day. The Rules have confirmed in writing the methodology which MOFCOM has been adopting for the last three years when conducting its competitive analysis of business concentrations. However, the Rules simply provide a list of criteria that MOFCOM employs when assessing concentrations without giving much additional guidance on them. In publishing these Rules, MOFCOM could have given greater explanation and clarity as to how it conducts its review of business concentrations. Instead, MOFCOM has left it to competition law practitioners and