By Wei Huang, Fan Zhu & Wendy Zhou –
There is a long-lasting divergence between the courts’ approach and the antitrust enforcement agencies’ approach towards RPM in China. This divergence may be reconciled in a recent administrative litigation case, Hainan Yutai Technology Feed Co., Ltd. v. Hainan Price Bureau. For the first time, a court in China explicitly supported the enforcement agencies’ approach towards RPM practices. As the attorneys for the Hainan Price Bureau, the authors analyze three main issues relating to the legal application towards RPM in this article, and explain why “prohibited in principle, and exempted individually” is the correct enforcement approach against RPM in China.
