September 1, 2019 may be seen as a new starting point for the enforcement of China's antitrust and competition laws. On this date, three new sets of rules and regulations (the "Three New Regulations") took effect, which were issued by China's newly formed competition authority, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR"): [1]

  • the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements ("IPP-MA"),
  • the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Dominant Market Positions ("IPP-AD"), and
  • the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting the Acts of Eliminating or Restricting Competition by Abuse of Administrative Power ("IPP-AAP").[2]

The Three New Regulations are expected to provide clear guidance for the SAMR and the provincial market supervision departments in their enforcement of China's Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML").[3]

Main Contents of the Three New Regulations

The IPP-MA (36 Articles in total), the IPP-AD (39 Articles in total), and the IPP-AAP (25 Articles in total), are all for implementing the relevant sections of the AML (respectively, "Monopoly Agreements," "Abuse of Dominant Market Position" and "Abuse of Administrative Power to Eliminate or Restrict Competition" sections), and have similar structures. Basically each of the Three New Regulations has the following main contents:

  1. Systematic provisions on AML enforcement mechanisms against relevant acts in violation of the AML. They are to:
    • Establish the two-level law enforcement system involving the national level and provincial level enforcement departments;
    • Set up working mechanisms, including general authorization to provincial level enforcement departments, designation of enforcement powers, commissioned investigations, and cooperation in investigations;
    • Set up the reporting system for the provincial enforcement department to initiate and handle an investigation into relevant AML violation acts; and
    • Urge the SAMR to strengthen guidance and supervision of provincial-level market regulation departments, and to unify the standards of law enforcement.
  2. Detailed provisions on law enforcement procedures:
    • The procedural regulations for each of the main stages of case handling, including whistleblowing, case-filing, investigation, case disposition, publicity, etc. are provided; the IPP-MA and the IPP-AD also clarify procedures regarding commitment proposal and handling.
    • The IPP-MA and the IPP-AD also incorporate by reference the procedural regulations promulgated by SAMR earlier this year in April, i.e. the Interim Provisions on the Procedures for Administrative Punishments for Market Supervision and Administration, and the Interim Measures for the Hearings for Administrative Punishments for Market Supervision and Administration.
  3. More details in implementing relevant sections of the AML:
    • Each of the Three New Regulations specifies the conditions or factors for finding violations of the AML, and clarifies the specific manifestations and constituent elements of violating acts. On one hand, they are expected to facilitate the implementation of the AML by not only providing guidance to AML enforcement agencies but also restricting those agencies' discretions, and on the other hand, they may serve as clear guidelines for compliance by the parties subject to those regulations.
    • Each of the Three New Regulations provides details on how to deal with illegal acts. The IPP-MA and the IPP-AD specify the types of penalties, the factors to be considered for determining the amount of fines, and the content of administrative penalty decisions; they further clarify that a business operator shall still assume legal responsibility for reaching a monopoly agreement or abusing the dominant market position by passive compliance with administrative orders, but the responsibility can be lightened or mitigated according to law. The IPP-AAP distinguishes the action types in different case situations and clarifies the specific content of an administrative proposal after the investigation.
    • The IPP-MA also specifies the exemption and leniency system. For instance, it clarifies the conditions for applying for exemptions/leniency treatments, the consideration factors for the AML enforcement agencies to determine granting exemptions/leniency treatments, and the content of the exemptions/leniency treatments.

It is believed that the Three New Regulations will further enhance the fairness, standardization and transparency of AML enforcement.

The New Regime vs. the Old – A Comparison

  1. Each of the Three New Regulations is more comprehensive for including both substantive and procedural provisions. Before the institutional reform, the original AML enforcement agencies issued separate regulations respectively on substantive provisions and procedural provisions. Now each of the Three New Regulations combines substantive and procedural provisions to make the regulations more comprehensive and complete, which could be conducive to the implementation by AML enforcement agencies and compliance by the parties subject to the governance of those regulations.
  2. The Three New Regulations overall may improve the AML enforcement supervision mechanism: Each of the Three New Regulations clearly requires the provincial law enforcement departments to investigate and deal with illegal acts in accordance with the relevant provisions of the SAMR, and the SAMR shall strengthen the guidance and supervision of the provincial law enforcement departments. Moreover, the reporting system and a stricter supervision mechanism are to be established according to each of the Three New Regulations, which could be conducive to the AML enforcement and the formation of a new pattern of AML enforcement with the expectation of comprehensively unified standards and procedures and practice.
  3. Each of the Three New Regulations refines relevant provisions of the AML. The main highlights are:
    • The Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements[4]
      • Factors for identifying other monopoly agreements are provided. It clarifies the factors that need to be considered when applying the section "Monopoly Agreements" of the AML to identify other monopoly agreements. It is clarified that other monopoly agreements in the AML can be determined only by the SAMR, which reflects the prudential principle adopted by law enforcement agencies on this issue.
      • Prudence is attached to the application of the commitment system. Where an operator promises to correct his behavior and take the initiative to eliminate the consequences of his behavior, the AML enforcement agency may decide to suspend the investigation. The commitment system is conducive to saving law enforcement resources and improving law enforcement efficiency. At the same time, however, it is also prone to problems such as replacing punishment with suspension. It particularly stipulates that the commitment system shall not be applied to monopoly agreements for (i) fixing prices, (ii) restricting the number of goods produced or sold, or (iii) segmenting market; moreover, if the AML enforcement agency concludes after investigation that a monopoly agreement exists, it shall no longer accept an application for suspension of investigations, which is conducive to maintaining the authority of AML enforcement.
      • Adjustment is made to the leniency system. It sets different levels for the reduction and exemption of penalties, which may make the leniency system produce a better incentive effect, and encourage reporting and surrender. It also increases the number of operators entitled to lenient treatment up to three in a case, and at the same time it adjusts the extents of mitigation or exemption of punishments, which may make the leniency system work better.
    • The Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Dominant Market Positions [5]
      • Factors for determining dominant market position of operators in new areas are provided. In recent years, the abuse of dominant market position in the Internet and intellectual property fields has received widespread attention. In response to the concerns of all sectors of society, and in order to strengthen the AML enforcement regarding dominant market position in the above two areas, the IPP-AD clearly clarifies the special factors that need to be considered in determining the dominant market position of operators in these two areas.
        • Prudence is attached to the determination of abuse of dominant market position. In law enforcement practice, it could be a complicated process to determine that the behavior of an operator constitutes such abuse. Although some acts may appear to constitute abuse of dominant market position, they may be actually commercially reasonable and should not be enjoined. The IPP-MD is believed to have fully considered the rationality of the behavior of operators, and clearly enumerates the typical abuse conducts; for instance, it stipulates that when a case involves sales of goods at a price lower than the cost, the analysis should be focused on whether the price is lower than the average variable costs; and in the case of free products provided in emerging areas such as the Internet, an overall consideration of free goods and related paid goods provided by the operator would be needed.
      • Circumstances of "justifiable reasons" are specified. Under AML, the question on whether "justifiable reasons" exist needs to be considered when determining whether a suspected act constitutes an abuse of dominant market position. The IPP-AD, based on enforcement authorities' relevant experience, enumerates specific possible justifiable reasons for acts like selling goods at prices below cost, refusing to trade, restricting transactions, tying or attaching unreasonable trading conditions, differential treatment, etc. These provisions refine relevant provisions of the AML and are expected to enhance the law enforcement operability and increase the market predictability.
    • The Interim Provisions on Prohibiting the Acts of Eliminating or Restricting Competition by Abuse of Administrative Power [6]
      • Specific types of acts of abusing administrative power to eliminate or restrict competition are provided. As compared with the old regulations by NDRC and the former SAIC, the new regulations are expected to help accurately identify the violation acts and further enhance the operability in law enforcement practice.
      • Procedures of law enforcement and handling are improved as compared with the old regulations by NDRC and the former SAIC. For instance, it clarifies that the AML enforcement agencies may initiate investigations against suspected violation acts through performing their powers, whistleblowing, assignments by higher authorities, cases transferred by other organs, reports of lower-level organs, etc., and market-level regulatory authorities below the provincial level can also receive whistleblowing materials or discover case clues, which improves the case-filing procedure.

The Three New Regulations further clarify the standards for identifying violation acts and imposing penalties, grant the AML enforcement agencies relatively full power and authority to conduct investigations, collect evidence and sanction violating parties, which is expected to better guide and regulate enforcement activities and more effectively combat monopolistic behaviors.[7]

Footnotes

[1]. Year 2018 is the 10th year of implementation of China's Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML"), and it is also the year seeing China's new round of administrative system reform. This round of reform directly led to a major change in China's AML implementation mechanism, namely the establishment of SAMR, into which the duties of anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies originally dispersed throughout the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC"), the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce ("SAIC") and the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") were integrated. The SAMR now assumes the unified functions for AML enforcement.

[2]. See the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements, available at http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/fgs/201907/t20190701_303056.html, the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Dominant Market Positions, available at http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/fgs/201907/t20190701_303057.html, and the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting the Acts of Eliminating or Restricting Competition by Abuse of Administrative Power, available at http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/fgs/201907/t20190701_303058.html.

[3]. See Legal Daily, The Three Regulations for Implementing the Anti-Monopoly Law Implemented since September – The Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement System Now Has "Steel and Sharp Teeth", 2019-07-19, available at http://www.xinhuanet.com/2019-07/19/c_1124774162.htm.

[4]. See Anti-monopoly Bureau, A Chart to Understand the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements, August 30, 2019, available at http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/xwxcs/201908/t20190830_306388.html.

[5]. See Anti-monopoly Bureau, A Chart to Understand the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Dominant Market Positions, August 30, 2019, available at http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/xwxcs/201908/t20190830_306387.html.

[6]. See Anti-monopoly Bureau, A Chart to Understand the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting the Acts of Eliminating or Restricting Competition by Abuse of Administrative Power, August 30, 2019, available at http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/xwxcs/201908/t20190830_306386.html.

[7]. See Legal Daily, The Three Regulations for Implementing the Anti-Monopoly Law Implemented since September – The Anti-Monopoly Law enforcement system has "Steel and Sharp Teeth", 2019-07-19, available at http://www.xinhuanet.com/2019-07/19/c_1124774162.htm.

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