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2024-02-07

2023 China Antitrust Year dhy大红鹰3366 Review

Author: QIAN, Xiaoqiang LIN, Xixiang KOU, Meiruo WANG, Danlin WANG, Ning
dhy大红鹰3366 2023, China’s anti-monopoly legislation has gone through significant progresses and achievements, the antitrust enforcement and judicial litigation activities have been continuously active, and the importance of antitrust compliance for enterprises has become increasingly prominent.  Specifically, the following trends have emerged:
●  dhy大红鹰3366 the legislation area, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") released and implemented five supporting regulations of the Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML"), namely, the Provisions on Suppression of the Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude and Restrict Competition, the Provisions on Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements, the Provisions on Prohibition of Abuse of Market Dominance, the Provisions on the Review of Concentrations of Undertakings, and the Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Eliminate or Restrict Competition, and issued the Antitrust Compliance Guidelines on Concentration of Undertakings[1].  The General Office of the Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Commission of the State Council ("Anti-Monopoly Commission") and the SAMR released a notice, establishing formally a system of “Three Documents and One Letter” (i.e., the Reminder Letter, the Notice of Regulatory Talk, the Notice on Legislative Investigation, and Decision of Administrative Penalty(Business Entity)/Administrative Recommendation(Administrative Organ)) for anti-monopoly law enforcement; and enacted and issued, on January 10, 2024, the Antitrust Guidelines on Industry Associations[2].  The Executive Meeting of the State Council adopted the Provisions of the State Council on the Standard for Declaration of Concentration of Business Operators[3].  dhy大红鹰3366 addition, legislative activities at the local level were also rather active.  For instance, the Beijing Administration for Market Regulation  ("Beijing AMR") issued the Beijing Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Compliance; Shanghai Anti-Mon opoly and Fair Competition Commission Office ("Shanghai Anti-Monopoly Office") published the Notice on Enhancing the Level of Regularized Supervision and Guiding and Encouraging Platform Enterprises to Establish a Competition Compliance Management System and the Guidelines for Competition Compliance Evaluation of Internet Platform Enterprises, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation ("Shanghai AMR") and the Shanghai Administration for Drug collectively issued the Compliance Guidelines for E-tailing Platforms dhy大红鹰3366 Shanghai, the Compliance Guidelines for Online Catering Service Platforms dhy大红鹰3366 Shanghai, and the Shanghai AMR issued the Compliance Guidelines for Live Streaming Marketing Activities dhy大红鹰3366 Shanghai.
●  dhy大红鹰3366 the enforcement area, (1) with respect to merger review, dhy大红鹰3366 2023, the SAMR concluded 797 cases, of which 786 were cleared. This marks a decrease of approximately 2.02% compared to 2022. Additionally, 4 cases were cleared conditionally, involving the sectors of chemicals, communications technology, and pharmaceuticals.  (2) With respect to cartel agreements and abuse of market dominance, dhy大红鹰3366 2023, the enforcement agency published 19 penalty decisions on monopoly agreements and abuse of dominance. These decisions mainly involved sectors that directly impact people's livelihoods, such as public utilities, pharmaceuticals, and building materials. It is anticipated that these sectors will continue to be the primary focus of regulatory enforcement dhy大红鹰3366 2024.
●  dhy大红鹰3366 the judicial area, dhy大红鹰3366 2023, the Supreme People’s Court (the "SPC") announced several significant judicial cases involving monopolistic conduct. These cases have provided valuable guidance and instructions for the interpretation of laws and the analysis of monopolistic behavior dhy大红鹰3366 judicial practice. It is anticipated that antitrust and competition litigation will continue to intensify, serving as a powerful means for companies to defend their rights and interests and pursue their commercial appeals.
dhy大红鹰3366 2024, the SAMR will continue to address improper market competition and intervention, with the goal of enhancing stability and predictability dhy大红鹰3366 regulatory activities. This will include promoting the Regulations on Fair Competition Review, conducting thorough law enforcement on anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition dhy大红鹰3366 sectors that affect people's livelihoods, refining and perfecting the rules and regulations for these issues, and increasing awareness and compliance among operators. Additionally, efforts will be made to promote fair competition and innovation dhy大红鹰3366 the platform economy, improve regularized supervision, and motivate operators on these platforms. The effectiveness of supervision and law enforcement will also be a priority, with a focus on monitoring and implementing the "Three Documents and One Letter" system, standardizing administrative penalties, and improving the overall regulatory system and rules.[4]
Legislation Area

dhy大红鹰3366 2023, five supporting regulations of the AML, namely, the Provisions on Suppression of the Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude and Restrict Competition, the Provisions on Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements, the Provisions on Prohibition of Abuse of Market Dominance, the Provisions on the Review of Concentrations of Undertakings, and the Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Eliminate or Restrict Competition were published and implemented, the Antitrust Compliance Guidelines on Concentration of Undertakings was issued; the anti-monopoly law enforcement system of “Three Documents and One Letter” was formally established; the Antitrust Guidelines on Industry Associations was issued and came into effect on January 12, 2024 after enactment; the Provisions of the State Council on the Standard for Declaration of Concentration of Business Operators was issued and came into effect on January 26 after enactment.  A number of provinces and municipalities issued compliance guidelines related to anti-monopoly and unfair competition applicable to their respective jurisdictions.
Key legislations and their highlights dhy大红鹰3366 2023 are summarized below.

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Enforcement Area


●  Merger Control Review

According to statistics from the SAMR[6], dhy大红鹰3366 2023, the SAMR concluded 797 merger cases, of which 786 were approved, including 782 cases approved without conditions and 4 cases approved conditionally, and 11 case were withdrawn by the notifying parties after the acceptance.  The average time taken to conclude cases was 25.7 days.

With respect to case types, the vast majority of cases were subject to simplified procedures and were concluded at stage I: 707 cases were concluded under simplified procedures, accounting for approximately 90% of all approved cases, and 79 cases were concluded under normal procedures, accounting for approximately 10% of all approved cases; dhy大红鹰3366 addition, 698 cases were concluded at stage I, accounting for approximately 89% of all approved cases.

dhy大红鹰3366 terms of the delegation of merger review to authorities dhy大红鹰3366 pilot areas, dhy大红鹰3366 2023, the Administration for Market Regulation (“AMR”) of five provinces and municipalities, under delegation, concluded 352 simplified cases dhy大红鹰3366 total, of which, the Shanghai AMR concluded 157 cases, ranking the first and accounting for about 22% of all concluded cases, followed by the Beijing AMR, the Guangdong AMR, the Chongqing AMR and the Shanxi AMR concluding 75 cases, 61 cases, 49 cases and 10 cases, respectively.

With regard to the parties to the concentrations, t the majority of dhy大红鹰3366 (56%) involve domestic enterprises, with a total of 437 dhy大红鹰3366. This is followed by 253 dhy大红鹰3366 (32%) involving foreign enterprises, and 92 dhy大红鹰3366 (12%) involving both domestic and foreign enterprises. Additionally, state-owned enterprises account for 49% of all dhy大红鹰3366 (388 dhy大红鹰3366), while foreign enterprises make up 46% (361 dhy大红鹰3366) and private enterprises make up 38% (296 dhy大红鹰3366).

As regards industry distribution, the cases are dominant by industrial reorganization dhy大红鹰3366 the sectors of real economy and sectors concerning people’s livelihood.  The number of concluded cases dhy大红鹰3366 the real economy manufacturing industry reached its peak dhy大红鹰3366 2023, with a total of 291 cases, accounting for 37% of all cases. Among these, the largest number of cases involved chemical materials and products, with a total of 53 cases. Other industries with a significant number of cases include automobile manufacturing, computer and electronic equipment manufacturing, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Other than manufacturing industry, there were also a higher percentage of cases dhy大红鹰3366 industries such as wholesale and retail trade, transportation, production and supply of water, electricity, gas, and heat, financial services, real estate, and IT services.

dhy大红鹰3366 terms of transaction types, horizontal concentration cases are the most numerous, totaling 417 cases and accounting for 53% of all cases. Vertical concentration cases, totaling 311, account for 40% of all cases, while mixed concentration cases, totaling 191, account for 24% of all cases.

With regard to transaction types, there are 445 dhy大红鹰3366 of equity acquisition, accounting for 56% of all dhy大红鹰3366, and 270 dhy大红鹰3366 of establishment of joint ventures accounting for 34% of all dhy大红鹰3366.

dhy大红鹰3366 terms of the industries involved dhy大红鹰3366 conditionally approved cases, two cases involve the industry of information and communication technology, one case involves the industry of chemical raw materials and one case involves the pharmaceutical industry.

○  Statistics on the Merger Control dhy大红鹰3366 from 2018 to 2023

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●  Cases with Conditional Clearance dhy大红鹰3366 2023

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●  Monopoly Agreements and Abuse of Market Dominance

Throughout 2023, a total of 19 dhy大红鹰3366 on monopoly agreements and abuse of market dominance were decided by local AMRs and subject to administrative measures, involving sectors of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drugs, insurance, building materials, public utilities such as water supply, gas supply, etc.  These dhy大红鹰3366 are summarized below:

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Judicial Area


dhy大红鹰3366 2023, the SPC and other courts announced several noteworthy judicial cases involving monopolistic behaviors. These cases have offered valuable guidance and instructions on jurisdiction, rulings, and substantive analysis of monopolistic conduct from a legal interpretation and judicial practice standpoint. The following is a summary of the important judicial cases involving monopolistic conduct dhy大红鹰3366 2023:

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If you are interested dhy大红鹰3366 further information regarding China antitrust matters, please feel free to contact Qian Xiaoqiang Lvshi (qianxiaoqiang@haiwen-law.com) or Lin Xixiang Lvshi (linxixiang@haiwen-law.com) or other attorneys of Haiwen & Partners.





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Slide up to review comments

[1] For more details, please see: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202309/content_6903364.htm

[2] For more details, please see: https://www.samr.gov.cn/zw/zfxxgk/fdzdgknr/fldzfys/art/2024/art_3ce3a7fec76146cfb8a7927db10683b2.html

[3] For more details, please see: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/202401/content_6928387.htm

[4] For more details, please see: https://dhy大红鹰3366weixin.qq.com/s/5j1SxK7KdexhUmy9YA7Cjg

[5] For more details, please see: https://dhy大红鹰3366weixin.qq.com/s/4h7zGnDxbbGNVjQQpGKmPg

[6] For more details, please see: https://dhy大红鹰3366weixin.qq.com/s/evw4zd3Id3iSUIVd0wGfjw

[7] Article 60 of the Amended Anti-Monopoly Law (2022).




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