Authored by: Ning Xuanfeng (Susan) , Chai Zhifeng , Zhang Ruohan , Wu Weimin , Zhang Tianjie and Wang Ye
China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) was enacted in 2008. After 14 years, AML concluded its first amendment on June 24, 2022. The Amended AML will take effect on August 1, 2022. The Amended AML introduces significant changes to the merger filing regime in China. To further the purpose of the Amended AML, China’s premier antitrust agency, the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”), published draft implementation rules on notification threshold (“Threshold Rules”) and review of concentration of undertaking (“Review Rules”) on June 27, 2022. The two draft rules are still at the public consultation stage and are likely to be further revised before August 1, 2022. Nevertheless, as they are currently written, the draft rules entail important changes to the existing rules that require close attention from companies for compliance purpose.