Antitrust Chronicle® – Year of the Dog: Recent Developments in China

Dear Readers,

We are delighted to release our CPI Antitrust Chronicle® issue for March 2018, Year of the Dog: Recent Developments in China.

In August 2018, China will celebrate its 10th anniversary of the enforcement of the Anti-Monopoly Law. It’s a critical moment to review the achievement of antitrust enforcement in 2017 and look forward for the next ten years. Within a broader picture, President Xi’s Chinese dream aims to bring benefits to the people, and consumer welfare will still stay in the center of antitrust enforcement.

This special China issue starts with the comprehensive analysis of the antitrust enforcement of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) by Susan Ning, Wu Han, and Jia Menglin of King & Wood Mallesons. Through reviewing the enforcement achievements and the legislative developments in 2017, they summarize the key sectors that will be targeted in 2018 and provide practical compliance advice for specific problematic behaviors.

2017 has been an important year for MOFCOM, where a total of 400 merger filings were received. Michael Han, David Boyle and James Muirhead of Fangda Partners look into MOFCOM’s merger cases with remedies and cases for failures to notify in 2017, and conclude that the enforcement agency does not shy away from using its powers. They suggest that undertakings intending to engage in the merger filing process shall plan ahead and ensure