The Anti-Monopoly Law in China: Where Do We Stand?

Abstract

The recent development of China's Anti-monopoly Law has caught the attention of governments, academia, and businesses. Although China has laws that address anticompetitive conduct and institutions to enforce them, they are disparate and do not constitute a comprehensive competition regime. Recent antitrust cases in China have stressed the need for a competition law that can be applied consistently across sectors. In this paper, the authors explain China's legislative process, the relationships among its relevant institutions, and explore the problems and challenges facing lawmakers. Although the 2007 passage of the Anti-monopoly Law was an important step towards a comprehensive competition regime, it remains to be seen how it will operate in practice when it goes into effect on August 1, 2008. The authors argue that two key issues remain unresolved: 1) how the Anti-monopoly Law will be backed by an effective enforcement process; and 2) how the Anti-monopoly Law will effectively deal with administrative monopolies.

Keywords: antitrust, competition law, competition policy, China, administrative monopoly, antitrust enforcement