Article by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

On December 30, 2011, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") issued the Interim Measures on Investigation and Handling of Failure on Declaration of Business Operators' Concentration, which became effective on February 1, 2012. Under the measures, business operators who fail to comply with MOFCOM business concentration reporting requirements upon meeting the thresholds set out in the Provisions of the State Council on Declaration Threshold for the Concentration of Business Operators will be investigated and punished. Under the measures, MOFCOM has the authority to carry out investigations on its own initiative or in response to reports of violations. MOFCOM may require suspected violators to provide documentary evidence relating to the transactions according to the Measures on Declaration of Business Operators' Concentration. Follow-up investigations (and document requests) may be required at MOFCOM's discretion. Violators are subject to a fine of up to RMB500,000 and may be ordered to take certain actions to eliminate the concentration, such as cessation of implementation of the concentration, disposal of equity interest or assets, or transfer of business units within a prescribed time limit.

The full Chinese text of the measures is available here.

A related Q&A in Chinese is available here.

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