By Michael Han, Andrew Skudder and David Boyle –
In November 2016, the SAIC published its penalty decision against Tetra Pak. Following a thorough investigation, the SAIC imposed a fine of USD $97 million on Tetra Pak for abusing its dominant market position in the liquid food aseptic carton packaging industry. The SAIC’s decision in relation to Tetra Pak’s loyalty rebates scheme is noteworthy since it is the first time a Chinese antitrust enforcer has considered loyalty rebates offered by a dominant firm to be a violation of the AML. In this article, the authors focus on the SAIC’s findings that Tetra Pak’s loyalty rebates schemes amounted to an abuse of dominance and compare this to the approach taken by the European Commission in the Intel case.
