By 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
Tag Archives: antitrust
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
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
A General Picture of SAIC’s Antitrust Enforcement
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Kate Peng It is generally known that the antitrust enforcement powers are shared by three government authorities in China: the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), which is responsible for merger control, the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”), which is responsible for price-related monopoly conducts, and the State Administration for… Continue Reading
Latest Development re NDRC’s Antitrust Investigation against China Telecom
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Wu Han, and Sun Yiming On 13 March, Mr. Zhang Guangyuan, Deputy Director of the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) spoke on the latest development of NDRC’s antitrust investigation on China Telecom and China Unicom. Mr.Zhang said that the two companies have so far completed a 100G… Continue Reading
With Conditions, MOFCOM Clears Seagate/Samsung Deal
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Ji Kailun and Yin Ranran On December 12th, 2011, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") conditionally approved the acquisition of the hard disk drive ("HDD") business of the Korean Samsung Electronics ("Samsung") by the US Seagate Technology ("Seagate")1. This is the 4th conditional approval of this year and the 10th conditional approval by… Continue Reading
NDRC Demands More Concrete Pledges from China Telecom
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Sun Yiming, Liu Jia and Yin Ranran On December 13, it was reported that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) asked China Telecom to submit more detailed "rectification proposal" in relation to its pledge for suspension of antitrust probe1. Earlier on December 2, China Telecom and China Unicom announced that they… Continue Reading
NDRC Fined Two Pharmaceutical Companies for Abusive Conducts
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Ding Liang, Liu Jia and Sun Yiming On November 14, the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") announced its decision to fine two private pharmaceutical companies nearly RMB 7 million for violating the Anti-monopoly Law ("AML")1. The penalty decision was released right after the NDRC publicly confirmed its investigation over China Telecom… Continue Reading
China Telecom and China Unicom Seek to Settle Antitrust Probe
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Sun Yiming, Liu Jia and Yin Ranran On 2 December 2011, China Telecom and China Unicom announced that they have applied to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for suspension of its antitrust investigation into their internet access pricing practices, by promising to adjust the internet access prices and overhaul their… Continue Reading
MOFCOM Imposed Conditions on SOEs – GE/Shenhua Deal
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Ji Kailun and Yin Ranran Only 10 days after its conditional clearance of the Alpha V/Savio deal1, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published, on 10 November 2011, the third conditional merger clearance of this year approving the proposed joint venture between General Electric (China) Ltd. (GE China) and China Shenhua Coal to… Continue Reading
Earlier Rumor Confirmed: China Telecom and China Unicom under Antitrust Investigation
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Sun Yiming and Liu Jia 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 Reform Commission ("NDRC"), the authority in charge of price-related breaches of the Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML"). This… Continue Reading
MOFCOM’s 8th Conditional Clearance – Alpha V/Savio Deal
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionOn 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 acquisition by Alpha Private Equity Fund V (Alpha V) of Savio group (an Italia based textile machinery producer, Savio) with four conditions. This is also the second conditional merger clearance this year.
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Alpha V/Savio Deal – A Procedural Overview of MOFCOM’s Decision-making Process
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning and Liu Jia 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 announcement1 , the review process lasted for 3.5 months starting from 14 July 2011 when the notification was submitted to… Continue Reading
Tmall Incident – Another Chinese Internet Giant Accused of Abusing Dominance
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia, Sun Yi Ming and Yin Ranran In early November, Taobao Mall (Tmall), part of the e-commerce operations of Alibaba Group and considered as China’s biggest business-to-consumer (B2C) retail platform, suffered from a stormy protest from small vendors against its new rules. Meanwhile, antitrust concerns arise in relation to its suspected… Continue Reading
Chinese Antitrust Enforcement Agencies Ready to Show Teeth to Large State-owned Enterprises?
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Sun Yiming and Liu Jia Most recently, the hottest topic on China’s Anti-monopoly Law (AML) is a piece of news spreading on the internet, indicating that China Telecom, one of China’s largest state-owned enterprises is under antitrust investigation conducted by a "relevant" competition authority for its suspected abuse of dominance in broadband… Continue Reading
Potential Monopoly In China’s Internet Industry Caught Attention of Chinese Competition Authorities
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Yin Ranran The QQ / 360 battle broken out towards the end of 2010 (see our article entitled "The QQ / 360 Disputes – Who, What, Where, When and Preliminary Antitrust Analysis") has stirred lasting and heated discussions about anti-monopoly issues in the emerging Internet industry in China. … Continue Reading
The annual “two sessions” and antitrust law noises
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Angie Ng In March every year, lawmakers and political advisers from the National People’s Congress (NPC) (Chinas equivalent of Parliament) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC) (China’s top advisory body) conduct sessions in Beijing to take stock of social, legal and economic issues in China for the… Continue Reading
Wiki-Hudong against Wiki-Baidu – an abuse of dominance?
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Angie Ng We understand from media reports that on 18 February 2011, Hudong1 (a Chinese internet search engine) made an Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) complaint to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) against Baidu2 (arguably the most often or commonly used internet search engine in China; often referred… Continue Reading
China Issues Rules on National Security Review for M&A Transactions
Posted in Mergers & AcquisitionsBy Xu Ping, Leading partner of King & Wood’s Corporate Group On February 3, 2011, the General Office of the PRC State Council issued the Notice Regarding the Establishment of National Security Review Mechanism for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors (“国务院办公厅关于建立外国投资者并购境内企业安全审查制度的通知”) (the "Notice"), which will take effect 30 days after its… Continue Reading
Price Related Breaches of the AML and the Price Law – How Many Public Cases Have There Been?
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy: Susan Ning, Shan Lining and Angie Ng On 17 November 2010, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) organized a "price monopoly" workshop in Chengdu to take stock of: (a) developments in relation to price related breaches of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML); and (b) developments in relation to provincial level price authorities and their… Continue Reading
Legal for now: Collusion among bidders at Hong Kong auctions
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy: Kenneth Y. Choy of King & Wood’s Hong Kong office and Antitrust & Competition Group Tai Po is a traditional village located in the northeastern part of the New Territories in Hong Kong. Its historical relics, old temples, quaint fishing village and natural scenery make it a popular destination for both tourists and local residents alike…. Continue Reading
If You Fix Prices, Beware of the Price Law and the Anti Monopoly Law
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy: Susan Ning, Shan Lining, Liu Jia and Angie Ng On 10 December 2010, the State Council published and enacted a set of revised penalty regulations[1] (vis-à-vis the Price Law 1997). Broadly, the penalties set out in these revised penalty regulations are more severe than the previous version. Of note is the fact that there… Continue Reading
Li Fangping vs China Netcom – Abuse of Dominance Case Dismissed
Posted in Antitrust & CompetitionBy Susan Ning, Ding Liang and Angie Ng, King & Wood’s Competition Practice In late August 2010, it was reported in the press that at least 10 antitrust private actions have been heard in the courts in China (see Two years on, ten private antitrust actions).This article describes one of the cases – Li Fangping… Continue Reading