The Amendment of China’s Anti-monopoly Law

On June 24, 2022, China’s legislature enacted the revision of the Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”), the country’s main antitrust statute.  The revised AML entered into force on August 1, 2022. In this paper, we examine a number of key takeaways from the AML revision – ranging from an expansion of the cartel prohibition; a potential liberalization in the resale price maintenance area; a number of rule tweaks for platform operators; minor changes to the AML’s “administrative monopoly” chapter; incorporation of the fair competition review system into the AML; stronger procedural powers for China’s antitrust authority; and heavier and broader sanctions for antitrust infringements. Although the plan for the AML revision was to make a “small amendment,” its impact on businesses, government bodies and other stakeholders in the Chinese antitrust community is profound. 

By Xu Guangyao & Adrian Emch^[1]

On June 24, 2022, China’s legislature passed the amendment of the Anti-Monopoly Law (“Revised AML”), originally promulgated in August 2007. The Revised AML entered into force a few days ago, on August 1, 2022.

The AML amendment is a response to the problems that have arisen in administrative and judicial law enforcement in practice. At the same time, the Revised AML aims to address novel issues – in particular conduct by Internet players – which have emerged over recent years.

In this paper, we highlight a number of key takeaways from the