By Susan Ning and Ding Liang

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) (please see our previous article entitled NDRC Fined Two Pharmaceutical Companies for Abusive Conducts).  The NDRC’s news release did not clearly indicate which article(s) of the AML the two companies have violated and the method the NDRC adopted to calculate the fine. 

On December 16, Mr. Zhou Zhigao, an official from the NDRC’s Price Supervision, Inspection and Anti-monopoly Bureau discussed the reasoning behind this case in a seminar.  According to Mr. Zhou, the two pharmaceutical companies were fined under Article 17(3) of the AML because they abused their dominance by refusing to deal with reserpine manufacturers.  He also discussed the method used in that case to calculate the fine.Continue Reading NDRC Official Speaks on the Pharmaceutical Case