On 20 September 2012, in the context of the 15th EU-China Summit, Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Zhang Ping, Chairman of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, and Fu Shuangjan, Vice-Minister of the Chinese State Administration of Industry and Commerce, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“Memorandum”) to increase cooperation between the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition and the Chinese antitrust authorities.
The Memorandum creates a dedicated framework for increased cooperation between the Commission and two of China’s anti-monopoly enforcement authorities, namely the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), responsible for the enforcement of competition rules against price-related infringements and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC), responsible for enforcing competition rules against non-pricing related infringements.
For the purposes of the Memorandum, the term “anti-monopoly” covers all aspects of the Chinese anti-monopoly law, with the exclusion of matters relating to concentrations, as these are already covered by the cooperation agreement concluded with MOFCOM, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in 2004.
MOFCOM is the third Chinese anti-monopoly authority, with specific authority for merger review.
This Memorandum is the latest step in the EU-China Competition Policy Dialogue, an agreement reached in November 2003, whose aim is to establish a permanent mechanism of consultation and transparency between China and the EU in competition policy and to enhance the EU’s technical and capacity-building assistance to China in this area.
The primary objective of the Memorandum is to further strengthen these cooperation and coordination mechanisms in the area of competition legislation, with particular emphasis on anti-monopoly legislation in order to foster mutual understanding and an awareness of current and prospective trends in competition legislation and enforcement.
Under the new framework envisaged by the Memorandum, the importance of the exchange of views and non-confidential information on the following aspects of competition law is emphasised:
(i) Exchange of views on developments in competition legislation and on the authorities' experience in the enforcement of this legislation;
(ii) Exchange of experiences on the enhancement of the cooperation of competition authorities;
(iii) Exchange of views with respect to multilateral competition initiatives;
(iv) Exchange of experiences on competition advocacy including raising awareness of companies and the wider public of competition and anti-monopoly legislation; and
(v) Exchange of views and experiences regarding a coordinated approach to technical cooperation between the EU and China in the area of competition law.
The Memorandum constitutes only one of many measures adopted in the framework of the EU-China Summit and the EU-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in a bid to increase cooperation between the EU and China.
The full text of the Memorandum of Understanding is available at http://ec.europa.eu/competition/international/bilateral/mou_china_en.pdf.
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