By Zhang Ruji, Zhang Yu and Lan Bing of King & Wood’s Corporate Group

1.Background of the "The Provisions on Selling Real Estate at Expressly Marked Prices";

Starting in April 2010, China’s central and local governments issued a series of policies to regulate and control the soaring prices of real estate and the overheated real estate market in China. Based on these policies, on March 16, 2011, the National Development and Reform Committee (“NDRC”) issued The Provisions on Selling Real Estate at Expressly Marked Prices (“Provision No.548”), which was implemented on May 1, 2011.

Continue Reading Issues Relating to “The Provisions on Selling Real Estate at Expressly Marked Prices” With Consideration of Chengdu’s Local Situation

…but level of enforcement is still considered inadequate by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International

By Ariel Ye and James Rowland of King & Wood’s Dispute Resolution Group

A month after Transparency International (“TI”) published its 2010 annual progress report on enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the Australian Federal Police have charged two Reserve Bank of Australia subsidiaries, Securency and Note Printing Australia, with offences under the Criminal Code Amendment Act: Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.

Continue Reading Australian Authorities Prosecute Major Asian Bribery Case…

By 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. 
 

About one month ago, Renmin University of China organized the thirteenth Anti-Monopoly Law Summit Forum, which was focused on discussion of fair competition in the Internet industry of China and protection of netizens’ interests.  Officials from various government agencies, such as the Law Committee of the National People’s Congress, Legislative Affairs of the State Council, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT"), the State of Administration for Industry and Commerce ("SAIC’), the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Development and Reform Commission, as well as judges from the Supreme People’s Court participated in the forum..

Continue Reading Potential Monopoly In China’s Internet Industry Caught Attention of Chinese Competition Authorities

Susan Ning and Yin Ranran

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced that its Anti-monopoly Bureau is to put up a signboard for the "Office of State Council’s Anti-Monopoly Commission (AMC)".  According to Mr. Yao Jian, a spokesman for MOFCOM, the State Council has approved the formal establishment of the AMC Office (even though the AMC Office has been operational within MOFCOM since the enactment of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) in 2008).  

As the third anniversary of the AML draws near, Mr. Yao expects that this move will further enhance effective enforcement of the AML and the coordination among the various ministries under the AMC.

Continue Reading Formal Establishment of Anti-Monopoly Commission Office within MOFCOM Approved

By Susan Ning, Shan Lining and Angie Ng


Pursuant to the Anti-Monopoly Law, transactions which are construed as "concentrations" (i.e. mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures) and which meet with specified turnover thresholds 1; must be notified to, and cleared (from an antitrust law perspective) by MOFCOM, before business operators can go ahead with these transactions (notifiable concentrations). 

Continue Reading MOFCOM publishes draft rules on investigation procedures re failure to notify on concentrations

By Susan Ning, Zheng Ziqing and Angie Ng

On 3 June 2011, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published, for public comments, draft rules which explain how MOFCOM will evaluate concentrations pursuant to the merger control regime.  These rules are entitled "Provisional Rules on the Assessment of the Effects of Concentrations on Competition" (Draft Rules).  The public has been invited to submit comments on these Draft Rules by 13 June 2011.

In fact, Article 27 of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) outlines a list of factors that MOFCOM would take into account, when assessing concentrations.  These are: (a) the market shares of the business operators involved in the concentration and their control over the market; (b) the degree of market concentration; (c) the impact of the concentration of business operators on market entry and technological advancement; (d) the impact of the concentration on consumers and other relevant business operators; (e) the impact of the concentration of business operators on the development of the national economy; and (f) any other factors deemed by MOFCOM to be relevant for consideration.  The Draft Rules expand on these factors.  There are altogether 14 provisions in the Draft Rules.  The following table provides an illustration of how the Draft Rules "expand" on the factors set out in Article 27 of the AML.
 

Continue Reading Draft Merger Control Rules Published For Comments

Susan Ning and Yin Ranran


On 3 June 2011, Mr. Shang Ming, Director General of MOFCOM’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau revealed the latest figures to do with merger control at the 7th International Symposium on Competition Law and Policy hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Continue Reading 240 Merger Control Cases Cleared by MOFCOM thus far

By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Angie Ng

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has co-organised a conference focusing on price related monopoly agreements with the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition (DG Competition).  The conference took place from 1 to 2 June 2011.

Antitrust authorities from the following jurisdictions attended this conference: the European Union, the United States of America, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Australia, Greece.  From China, officials from several government agencies attended the conference, including officials from: the Law Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Supreme People’s Court, Legislative Affairs of the State Council, the NDRC, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the State of Administration of Industry and Commerce, and pricing authorities based in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.  Other attendees include representatives from China Consumers’ Association, China Cleaning Industry Association and academics.

Continue Reading NDRC and EU’s DG Competition organize conference on price-related monopoly agreements

By Susan Ning, Chai Zhifeng and Angie Ng

On June 2, 2011, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) publicly announced the first conditional merger clearance in 2011. At its [2011] No. 33 Announcement, MOFCOM cleared Uralkali’s proposed acquisition of Silvinit (the Parties) (both potash producers based in Russia) with conditions.  This is the 7th conditional merger clearance since the enactment of the Anti-monopoly Law (AML) in 2008.   MOFCOM is obliged by statute to publish conditional clearances. 

The following are the salient points to note vis-à-vis this conditional clearance:

Continue Reading The Russian Potash Deal – first conditional clearance of 2011

作者：张保生 金杜律师事务所争议解决组合伙人

2005年修订的《中华人民共和国公司法》（1）（下称“《公司法》”），对我国公司法律制度作出较大调整和完善，增加了公司纠纷的可诉性。但由于《公司法》的一些规定过于概括性、原则性甚至宣示性，司法实践中对公司诉讼案件同案不同判的现象比较常见。为解决《公司法》理解和适用的统一问题，指导司法实践和公司相关主体的商事活动，最高人民法院此前先后对《公司法》做出两个司法解释（2），重点明确《公司法》适用的一些基本原则和公司解散、清算问题。2011年2月16日，最高人民法院颁布《关于适用<中华人民共和国公司法>若干问题的规定（三）》(下称“司法解释（三）”)，对公司成立前债务承担、出资和股权确认等实践中争议较大的问题作出解释。本文试从实务角度对司法解释（三）进行解读。

Continue Reading 《最高人民法院关于适用若干问题的规定（三）》实务解读