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By Susan Ning  Hazel Yin  Ruohan Zhang  King&Wood Mallesons’ International Trade Group

ning_susanuntitledOn May 4, 2015, the NDRC published Notice on Reinforcing Supervision over Medical Prices (“Notice”). In the Notice, the NDRC issued a range of specific opinions on the supervision over medical price, including immediately launching special inspections into illegal conducts under Pricing law and AML and some other specific issues. In this article, we would analyze the antitrust issues which may occur in such special inspections, in order to provide advice for antitrust compliance in pharmaceutical sector.
Continue Reading NDRC Targets Price-related Illegal Conducts in the Pharmaceutical Sector

By Joshua Cole, Sharon Henrick, Michael Robert-Smith King&Wood Mallesons

cole_jhenrick_sIn this article we explore the First Conduct Rule in Hong Kong’s Competition Ordinance, focusing on its significance for companies preparing for implementation of the Ordinance.

Overview of the First Conduct Rule

The First Conduct Rule targets anti-competitive agreements, including serious or ‘hardcore’ coordination between competitors such as price-fixing, market allocation, output restriction or bid-rigging.

Hong Kong’s Competition Commission has indicated that it will be particularly focused on this type of conduct. The Chairperson of the Commission, Ms Anna Wu, has singled out price-fixing cartels as initial targets, stating that she is determined to tackle the “Big Tigers” of Hong Kong.
Continue Reading Hong Kong Competition Ordinance: First Conduct Rule

作者：Joshua Cole Sharon Henrick Michael Robert-Smith 金杜律师事务所

cole_jhenrick_s本文将探讨香港竞争条例中的第一行为守则，并且将关注其对拟适用于该条例的公司的重要性。

第一行为守则概述

第一行为守则针对反竞争性协议，包括公司间严重的“核心”协同行为，例如固定价格、市场分割、产量限制或串通投标。

香港竞争事务委员会已经说明其将尤其关注该类行为。委员会主席胡红玉指出首先会针对固定价格的同业联合，声称她已经决心解决香港的“大老虎”。
Continue Reading 香港竞争条例：第一行为守则——生效倒计时

作者：宁宣凤 尹冉冉 张若寒 金杜律师事务所反垄断部

2015年5月4日，国家发展改革委发布了《关于加强药品市场价格行为监管的通知》（“《通知》”），就加强药品市场价格行为监管有关问题提出了一系列具体意见，包括针对特定违反《价格法》及《反垄断法》的行为立即开展专项检查等内容。该通知旨在贯彻落实发改委、卫生计生委、人力社会资源保障部等部门共同制定的《推进药品价格改革的意见》（“《意见》”）。该《意见》与《通知》同日发布，涉及改革药品价格形成机制，强化医药费用和价格行为综合监管等内容。本文将重点分析该专项检查关注的反垄断问题，以期对药企反垄断合规工作提供帮助。

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Continue Reading 发改委在药品市场开展价格违法行为专项检查

Concurrences Journal,  in partnership with George Mason University School of Law, will hold  “The Global Antitrust Economics Conference” on Friday, May 29, 2015, at the George Mason University School of Law campus in Arlington, VA. This one-day conference (8:30am to 6:00pm) promises to be a unique platform to discuss the hottest issues of Antitrust and…

By Susan Ning, Hazel Yin, Al Wu, Sarah Eder and Lingbo Wei   King & Wood Mallesons’ Antitrust Group

NING, Susan (Xuanfeng)尹冉冉On 4 December 2014, the Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Imposing Additional Restrictive Conditions on the Concentration of Business Operators (for Trial Implementation) (hereinafter the “Provisions of Restrictive Conditions”) was officially enacted by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM), based on its 2013 draft version (hereinafter the “2013 Draft Provisions”). Restrictive conditions in merger reviews are also referred to as “merger remedies”. Pursuant to Articles 28 and 29 of the Anti-monopoly Law (hereinafter “AML”), where a concentration of business operators will or may eliminate or restrict competition, MOFCOM may decide to attach restrictive conditions to its clearance decision in order to reduce the adverse impacts on competition. MOFCOM has given conditional clearance in 24 cases since AML came into effect. Given that the imposition of restrictive conditions on proposed transactions may impact heavily on the parties and the nature of the transaction, even altering the relevant market and development of the relevant industry, the publication of the Provisions of Restrictive Conditions will be of great significance not only to the merger review process, but also to the business decisions of the relevant companies.

The Provisions of Restrictive Conditions came into effect on 5 January 2015. At the same time, MOFCOM’s Interim Regulations on Implementing the Divestiture of Assets or Businesses in Concentrations of Business Operators dated 5 July 2010 (hereinafter “the Regulations on Divestiture”), were repealed. The Provisions of Restrictive Conditions will become an important reference point for the enforcement of restrictive conditions. The Provisions of Restrictive Conditions contain 7 chapters addressing restrictive covenants, including when such covenants will be imposed, the mechanisms for supervising their implementation, the consequences of failing to comply, the procedure for amending them and when the obligations will come to an end .
Continue Reading Developments to the Merger Control Regime in China: MOFCOM’s Provisions on Imposing Additional Restrictive Conditions on Concentrations of Business Operators (for Trial Implementation)

作者：金杜律师事务所海关与贸易合规团队

新闻回放：

2015年2月14日，大连海关发布消息称，该关日前成功查获一起特大走私牛肉案件，抓获犯罪嫌疑人33人，案值超过2亿元人民币。经查，该团伙主要经营肉类、水果、海产品等国际贸易以及经营冷库等产业并大肆进行走私活动。调查发现，该团伙将产自于美国的牛肉伪报品名或伪报原产国进行走私，并制作虚假合同、发票等相关单据，骗取通关。（来源：2015年2月14日 中国新闻网）

2014年海关总署部署全国海关开展为期一年的打击农产品走私“绿风”专项行动，将肉类制品走私尤其是疫区肉类制品走私，作为“绿风”行动“四大战役”之一，予以严厉打击。

2014年12月，海关总署再次部署，要求全国海关开展严厉打击牛肉走私专项行动，进一步集中力量，严厉打击肉类制品走私，切实保障人民群众食品卫生安全，维护经济贸易秩序。同时，海关将继续会同出入境检验检疫以及有关地方监管部门，针对牛肉等肉类制品产品的边境偷运走私、非法仓储和销售等，开展集中清查，落实综合治理。

截至目前，除了自理报关进口的内资企业以及肉制品加工厂商以外，同行业内部分世界知名贸易商及其在华设立的贸易公司、工厂等也被要求配合海关调查。
Continue Reading 海关加大疫区肉类制品走私打击力度

By Susan Ning, Kate Peng and Lingbo Wei King & Wood Mallesons’ Antitrust Group

NING, Susan (Xuanfeng)彭荷月After more than a year’s investigation into Qualcomm, the NDRC made an announcement of its investigation decision through press release on 10 February 2015.[1] About 20 days later, the NDRC published the full-text of the decision on its official website on 2 March 2015. The decision provided a comprehensive analysis on the definition of the relevant markets, Qualcomm’s dominant position and abusive conducts that are deemed violating the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”), which sent a warning to patent-heavy companies to review their business practices in China.

We hereby set out the points below to provide insight into the facts and factors that the NDRC considered in its decision making process.
Continue Reading NDRC’s Qualcomm Decision：A Warning to Patent-heavy Companies

By Susan Ning, Kate Peng and Lingbo Wei  King & Wood Mallesons’ Antitrust Group

NING, Susan (Xuanfeng)彭荷月On 10 February 2015, the NDRC announced its decision in relation to the abuse of dominance investigation into Qualcomm. Following the announcement, the NDRC held a press conference and revealed more details about the case.

According to Mr. Xu Kunlin, the Director General of the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the NDRC, two US companies filed a complaint to the NDRC about Qualcomm’s alleged abuse of dominance in 2009. In November 2013, the NDRC initiated an investigation into Qualcomm and conducted a dawn raid at Qualcomm’s Beijing and Shanghai offices in the same month. It is reported that during the proceedings, Qualcomm delegates had made 28 visits to the NDRC. Mr. Xu personally attended 8 of those visits. Finally, yesterday the NDRC announced its decision, imposing a fine of RMB 6.088 billion (approximately USD 975 million).  The fine is the largest in China’s corporate history, outnumbering all fines imposed by the NDRC in 2014 (RMB 1.8 billion in total) by more than double.  In addition to the fine, Qualcomm has made commitments to the NDRC to take several rectification measures.

According to press releases, Mr. Xu indicated that the full text of the decision will be published in the coming days.Continue Reading Qualcomm Investigation Finally Closed: Some Changes in Business Model in Addition to an RMB 6.088 Billion Fine

作者：金杜律师事务所 合规业务组

为了加强对我国食品安全的监管，继2013年10月国务院向社会公布《中华人民共和国食品安全法（修订草案送审稿）》（“送审稿”）并征求意见之后，2014年6月，全国人大常委在其网站公布了《中华人民共和国食品安全法（修订草案）》（“一次修订案”），继续向社会公开征求意见。之后，根据全国人大常委会组成人员和各方面的意见，对修订草案作了修改，于2014年12月形成了《中华人民共和国食品安全法（修订草案二次审议稿）》（“二次修订案”）。相比以参考政府意见为主的修订案，二次修订案的审议有了更多企业、消费者协会、新闻媒体等各方面的参与，使得其在保护消费者权利，规范经营者行为上有了更多的考虑。本篇简讯将对《食品安全法》的送审稿和两次修订案的亮点进行回顾并对二次修订案中的新修内容进行解读。
Continue Reading “史上最严”食品安全法二次修订