By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Hazel Yin 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 cleared by MOFCOM in April, coming just days after the conditional clearance of Glencore/Xstrata. To… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Antitrust & Competition
Subscribe to Antitrust & Competition RSS FeedMOFCOM cleared Glencore’s acquisition of Xstrata with Conditions
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Huang Jing and Hazel Yin 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 conditions. The over 8,000-word decision issued by MOFCOM contains the most detailed competition analysis… Continue Reading
Path towards A More Streamlined Merger Control System – MOFCOM Publishes Draft Rules on Merger Remedies
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Pulcheria Chung, Kailun Ji and Hazel Yin 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 Restrictive Conditions on Concentrations of Undertakings (the “Draft Rules“) on 27 March 2013 for public comments. Under the… Continue Reading
MOFCOM On the Track to Adopt a Simplified Merger Review Mechanism by Publishing Standards of Simple Merger Cases
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Huang Jing and Hazel Yin On April 3, 2013, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published the draft Interim Rules regarding the Standards of Simple Cases of Concentrations of Operators (Draft Standards), to solicit comments from the public. The Draft Standards set out the factors that MOFCOM would consider when identifying if a… Continue Reading
Chinese Consumer Wins Abuse of Dominance Civil Action against Tie-in Sales in Program Bundling
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Li Rui and Hazel Yin 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 cable service provider, for tie-in and imposing unreasonable sales conditions by tying basic cable services with… Continue Reading
Burden of Proof in Monopolistic Agreement Claims
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Kate Peng, Pulcheria Chung and Karen Ji China’s Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) issued its Provisions on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Dispute Cases Arising from Monopolistic Conduct (“SPC rules”) on May 3, 2012, effective on June 1, 2012. Article 7 of the SPC rules differentiates… Continue Reading
第一张纵向垄断协议罚单：贵州茅台和五粮液固定转售价格案简析
Posted in Antitrust & Competition作者：宁宣凤、刘佳、尹冉冉 2013年2月22日，贵州省物价局公布处罚决定，就中国知名的高端白酒国有企业贵州茅台的固定转售价格行为，对其处以2.47亿元人民币的罚款。同一天，四川省发展和改革委员会（“四川省发改委”）也公布处罚决定，基于相同的理由，对另一家中国知名的高端白酒国有生产企业五粮液公司，处以2.02亿元人民币的罚款。贵州省物价局和四川省发改委均为国家发展和改革委员会（“发改委”）的地方执法机构，根据《反垄断法》的授权，负责与价格相关的（包括固定转售价格行为在内）垄断协议执法工作。 此两起处罚决定一经公布，即刻引起巨大轰动。这是中国反垄断执法机构首次根据《反垄断法》对固定转售价格行为予以处罚。此外，两笔罚款的总金额高达4.49亿元人民币，也是迄今为止中国反垄断执法史上金额最高的罚款。
Chinese Antitrust Authorities Imposed Large Fines on Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye for Resale Price Maintenance
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Hazel Yin On 22 February, 2013, Guizhou Provincial Pricing Administration (“Guizhou Pricing Administration”) released the decision to impose a penalty of RMB 247 million (about USD 39.8 million) on Kweichow Moutai, the most famous Chinese state-owned producer of premium liquor, for administering resale price maintenance (“RPM”). On the same… Continue Reading
The Anti-Monopoly Law of China: What We Have Seen in 2012?
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Hazel Yin and Yunlong Zhang The year 2012 marks the fifth year of the enactment and implementation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”). Over the past year, we have witnessed substantial progress of the merger control regime and antitrust administrative investigations, in particular in the area of cartel investigations. With the promulgation of… Continue Reading
All China Lawyers Association Launched Antitrust Committee
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Antitrust & Competition Group On 23 December 2013, the All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) announced the establishment of the Antitrust Committee, showing that antitrust law has been recognized by the legal community in China as an important segment of the Chinese legal system. The ACLA is the association of all admitted PRC lawyers. It… Continue Reading
Chinese antitrust regulators provided updates on their enforcement activities
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Kailun Ji and Kate Peng Although the antimonopoly enforcement in China is still in its formative years, the significant progress made by China’s antimonopoly regulators has brought about far-reaching impacts on companies doing business in China. Recently, the three anti-monopoly regulators, i.e. the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC“), the State Administration… Continue Reading
NDRC Say No to Resale Price Maintenance – Company should be Cautious on Pricing Strategy
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Kate Peng China’s famous producers of premium liquor, Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd. (Maotai) and Wuliangye Group Co., Ltd. (Wuliangye) recently announced that they would correct their behaviors suspicious of AML violation. The corrections were said to be made after the companies being “inspected” by the National Development and Reform… Continue Reading
NDRC Imposed Stiff Fines on Multinational LCD Manufacturers in China’s First Antitrust Enforcement Action against International Cartels
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning and Kate Peng On Jan 4th, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC“) published that they had imposed fines in a total amount of RMB 353 million (approximately USD 56 million) on 6 LCD panel manufacturers, including Samsung and LG of Korea and ChiMei, AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and HannStar… Continue Reading
MOFCOM cleared Joint Venture between ARM, Giesecke & Devrient and Gemalto with Conditions
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Ji Kailun and Hazel Yin 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“) supplier, Giesecke & Devrient GmbH (“G&D“) and Gemalto NV (“Gemalto“), both providers of security solutions, with behavioral conditions. … Continue Reading
Heads of the Three Antitrust Enforcement Agencies Attended the First China Competition Policy Forum
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Kate Peng and Yunlong Zhang On December 4th and 5th, 2012, the first China Competition Policy Forum (the “Forum“) was held in China University of Political Science and Law. The Forum was sponsored by the expert advisory group of the Anti-monopoly Commission of the State Council. The Directors-General of the… Continue Reading
China’s Ministry of Commerce Released List of Unconditionally Approved Notifications of Concentrations
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning and Hazel Yin On November 16, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) released the latest data of unconditionally approved notifications of concentrations, including the total number and the list of all transactions with the name of each transaction and the undertakings concerned. According to an earlier piece of press release, MOFCOM will… Continue Reading
What is the role of an antitrust enforcement agency in compulsory licensing?
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning and Kate Peng In August 2012, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce published the fifth draft of the Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement in the Field of Intellectual Property (the “Draft Guidelines“). Although compulsory licensing is not expressly mentioned in the Draft Guidelines, many provisions therein seem to imply it being… Continue Reading
Price Bureau Uncovered and Punished a Price-Fixing Cartel under the Leniency Program
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Kate Peng and Yunlong Zhang The Price Bureau of Guangdong Province (“GDPB“) recently published an article about an investigation in a price-fixing cartel among sea sand dredging companies on its official website 1. According to the article, the price of sea sand in Guangdong province rose from around RMB20 per cubic meter… Continue Reading
Commentary on the Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretation
Posted in Antitrust & Competition, Corporate, Dispute ResolutionBy Susan Ning and Ding Liang King & Wood Mallesons’ Antitrust Group The Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Dispute Cases Arising from Monopolistic Conduct (“Anti-Monopoly Judicial Interpretation”), as adopted at the 1539th Session of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”)… Continue Reading
反垄断司法解释评述
Posted in Antitrust & Competition, Corporate, Dispute Resolution作者：宁宣凤 丁亮 金杜律师事务所反垄断组 《最高人民法院关于审理因垄断行为引发的民事纠纷案件应用法律若干问题的规定》（以下简称“反垄断司法解释”）已于2012年1月30日由最高人民法院审判委员会第1539次会议通过，于2012年5月3日公布，自2012年6月1日起施行。《反垄断司法解释》凝结了垄断民事纠纷案司法实践中积累的一些重要经验，将在未来垄断民事纠纷案中起到重要作用。本文将对《反垄断司法解释》所涉及的重要内容做简要的梳理和评述。 一、《反垄断司法解释》的起草背景 早在2008年8月1日《反垄断法》正式实施后，最高人民法院就已开始着手准备垄断民事纠纷案所能出现的各种问题。2008年10月24日，最高人民法院在天津召开研讨会，讨论人民法院在审理垄断民事纠纷案中急需解决的问题。
MOFCOM Approved Wal-Mart’s Acquisition of Controlling Stake in Yihaodian but Said NO to VIE Structure
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning,Hazel YIN,and Han WU On 13 August 2012, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) approved Wal-Mart Stores Inc(“Wal-Mart”)’s proposed acquisition of 33.6% share of Niu Hai Holdings (“Niu Hai”),which enables Wal-Mart to have a controllin stake in the online direct sales business of Yihaodian, the largest e-supermarket in China.1 The approval is not without conditions,though.It… Continue Reading
Chinese Antitrust Regulators Vow to Increase Transparency
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Sun Yiming and Kate Peng On the International Symposium on Controversial Issues regarding Chinese AML Enforcement held in Hangzhou on Monday this week, both the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) announced that they will increase the transparency of their enforcement actions under… Continue Reading
China’s Anti-Monopoly Law: Retrospect and Prospect on the Fourth Anniversary
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning and Hazel Yin August 1, 2012 marks the fourth anniversary of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”). 1 With only 57 articles, the AML introduces a series of new regimes governing not only transactions but also day-to-day operations of domestic and foreign companies. This article presents an overview of how the AML has been implemented… Continue Reading
中国反垄断法实施四周年回顾与展望
Posted in Antitrust & Competition作者：宁宣凤 尹冉冉 金杜律师事务所反垄断组 至2012年8月1日，《中华人民共和国反垄断法》（以下简称《反垄断法》）实施已满四年。1虽然仅有57条，但《反垄断法》确立了一系列崭新的制度，其适用对象不仅包括国内公司，也包括境外企业，适用范围不仅涵盖公司的日常运营，也包括公司间的交易行为。本文简要回顾《反垄断法》四年的实施情况，并对其实施趋势予以展望。 一、合并控制 经营者集中在达到一定营业额标准后，需提交商务部进行经营者集中的反垄断审查。自2008年8月1 日以来，商务部累计审查逾450起交易，其中95%以上的交易获得无条件批准。截至2012年8月1日，商务部已附条件批准14起交易，禁止1起（可口可乐收购汇源）。