China’s Antitrust Administrative Litigations: Problems and Solutions

Abstract

The administrative litigations play an essential role in the Anti-Monopoly Law in China. Empirical research suggests that despite the preliminary development antitrust administrative litigations present the “four lowness” phenomenon, namely low start-up, low total case number, low rate of lawsuits against the competition authorities, and low winning rate for plaintiffs. The most severe problems remain two, namely plaintiffs’ grounding and the scope of judicial review. It is both empirically urgent and theoretically necessary to establish special rules for antitrust administrative procedure. In order to promote and improve effective antitrust enforcement, it is proposed to recognize plaintiffs’ grounding based on procedural participation, to let justice urge competition authorities to adopt procedural guidelines, and to mildly extend the scope of judicial review.

Keywords: Antitrust, Administrative Litigations, Grounding, Judicial Review, China