On September 10, the Chinese anti-monopoly law-enforcing departments including the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce had dialogues with the representatives from the U.S. business circle on the law enforcement of anti-monopoly. The Deputy China International Trade Representative Zhang Xiangchen attended the meeting and made a speech. The two parties had in-depth communication on China’s anti-monopoly law-enforcement and the specific concerns of the U.S. business circle.
Zhang said that, strengthening anti-monopoly law enforcement is an important measure for the Chinese government to change the management pattern of “attaching importance to the examining and approving , but ignoring supervision”, and strengthen the simultaneous and afterwards supervision. It is also a necessary preparation work for implementing the achievements of China-U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaty and carrying out the Pre-establishment National Treatment plus Negative List. The main purposes of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law are to protect the fair competition of the market, to promote the economic operation efficiency, to safeguard the interests of the consumers and the social public interests, and to promote the healthy economic development. The enforcement organizations of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law handle cases strictly by the law, and treat all market entities without discrimination. They always stick to equality and transparency in order to safeguard the legal interests of the operators according to the law. Zhang stressed that the monopoly cases which have been investigated and treated mostly concern the Chinese enterprises. There is no selective law enforcement targeting foreign-invested enterprises and enterprises abroad. In terms of allowing foreign legal counsels to audit related meetings, China has made the flexible adjustment for foreign invested enterprises. Zhang pointed out that, compared with the U.S. whose anti-monopoly law enforcement system boasts hundreds of years of development, China carries out the anti-monopoly law enforcement just in a short time, and faces a more complex situation compared with the past. There may exist some procedural and technological problems during the law enforcement. China is willing to listen to the opinions of the related parties, and continue the improvement and optimization.
It is introduced that, from the implementation of the Anti-Monopoly Law in 2008 to the first half year of 2015, the Ministry of Commerce has completed the investigation of 1,143 concentration cases, among them 1,117 were approved unconditionally, 2 were forbidden, and 24 were approved with conditions. The State Administration for Industry and Commerce and provincial commercial departments have investigated 54 cases suspected of monopoly, including 31 suspected of monopoly agreement, and 23 suspected of abusing market domination. 23 of them have been closed. The National Development and Reform Commission and local price departments have made the law enforcement decision for 55 anti-monopoly cases, including 16 investigated by the National Development and Reform Commission and 39 investigated by local price departments.
At the meeting, the two parties also exchanged views on the application of simple investigation process to the concentration cases in sensitive industries, the public interests during the anti-monopoly investigation, the “pricing” during the price investigation, related factors that should be concerned during anti-monopoly investigation, the anti-monopoly guidance to the auto industry and the anti-monopoly guidance related to intellectual property.
About 40 people attended the meeting, including officials from the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and representatives from the American Chamber of Commerce in China, U.S. China Business Council, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and their member enterprises.
