Legislation
Chairperson Council of the NPC Standing Committee Deliberates Draft Amendment to AML
On May 7, 2022, the Chairperson Council of the National People's Congress ("NPC") Standing Committee was held. The Council heard the reports on the changes made to the Anti-monopoly Law ("AML") draft amendment regarding the major issues, and deliberated the draft amendment.1
Amendment to AML to Submitted for Second Reading in June
On May 6, the NPC Standing Committee published its 2022 Legislative Work Plan. According to the plan, deliberation on 15 pieces of legislation, including the Anti-Monopoly Law, will continue. According to the timetable, in June of 2022, the AML and other four pieces of legislation will be submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for further deliberation. Gan Lin, deputy director of the State Administration for Market Regulation（"SAMR "） and director of the State Anti-Monopoly Bureau, disclosed the revision progress of the AML at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on April 26. She said that the AML has already listed in the revision agenda of the NPC and is expected to be promulgated this year. After the issurance of the AML amendment, the relevant regulations will also be revised. According to the 2022 Legislative Work Plan issued by the SAMR, in order to complete the anti-monopoly legal system, the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Monopoly Agreements, the Interim Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Dominant Market Position and other regulations will be revised. 2
Guidance on Anti-Monopoly Compliance for Undertakings in Shanxi Province Released
On May 6, Shanxi Administration for Market Regulation released the Guidance on Anti-Monopoly Compliance for Undertakings in Shanxi Province.3
Zhejiang Publishes Regulations for Competition Compliance Management of Internet Platform Enterprises (Draft for Comments)
Recently, the Institute of Standardization of Zhejiang Province and other entities published the drafted the Regulations for Competition Compliance Management of Internet Platform Enterprises (Draft for Comments) for public opinion.4
Authorities
Henan Fair Competition Review Center Opens
On May 27, 2022, Henan Administration for Market Regulation held the openning ceremony of the newly established institutions. The Henan Intellectual Property Affairs Center (Henan Intellectual Property Protection and Assistance Center, Henan Patent Information Service Center) has been renamed as the Henan Fair Competition Review Center. According to relevant personnel from the Center, the main tasks of the newly renamed Henan Fair Competition Review Center are to carry out the policy and theoretical research in such fields as anti-monopoly, anti-unfair competition and competition policies; to undertake the technical support such as anti-monopoly law enforcement, market monitoring, electronic evidence collection and consolidation, and big data analysis. The person also said that intellectual property matters remain one of the functions of the Center.5
Launch of New Domain Names on Websites of Anti-monopoly Divisions of SAMR
On May 27, the official websites of the Competition Coordination Department, Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Department I and Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Department II of SAMR launched new domain names.6
SAMR Introduces Main Achievements and Reform Results in Safeguarding Fair Competition in Past Ten Years
On May 20, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee held a series of press conferences themed by " The Decade in China". Pu Chun, the deputy director of SAMR, introduced the main achievements in safeguarding fair competition since the 18th CPC National Congress and the next initiatives. On the same day, SAMR issued the Main Achievements and Reform Results of Market Regulation in the Past Ten Years. The article points out that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the basic position of China's competition policies have been basically established, and the fair competition system has been continuously improved, creating a fair, transparent and predictable good competitive environment for various market players to invest in the industry and standardize healthy development. 7
SAMR Deploys Pilot Program for Innovation of Fair Competition Review System
Recently, SAMR has organized a pilot program of four items in respect of fair competition review informatization construction, report and handling, joint review of major policy, and fair competition index in nine provinces (municipalities) including Tianjin, Jilin and Shanghai, etc. Further innovate the implementing mechanism of fair competition review, enhance the quality and efficiency of such review, strengthen the rigid constraints of the system, optimize the fair, transparent and predictable institutional environment, and stimulate the development vitality and endogenous power of market players. 8
Beijing AMR Organizes Online Anti-monopoly Compliance Training for Hundreds of Platform Enterprises
From May 17 to 18, the Beijing Administration for Market Regulation ("Beijing AMR") organized online anti-monopoly compliance training for more than 150 platform enterprises. The platform enterprises participating in the training involve fields such as sales, information, travel, tourism, finance, life and software services, etc., including more than 400 legal counsels and business principals of the head platform enterprises such as Tencent, Alibaba, Bytedance, Baidu, JD, Didi and Meituan participated in the training. 9
Public Enforcement
Gas Company Penalized for Dominance Abuse – Responsible Person Fined for Obstructing Investigation in Ningxia Province
On May 26, 2022, Administration for Market Regulation of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region ("Ningxia AMR") issued an administrative penalty decision, imposing administrative penalty on Ningxia Changran Natural Gas Co., Ltd. for abuse of dominant market position, ordering the company to cease its illegal acts, confiscating its illegal gains and imposing a fine in total of RMB 1,110,571.55. Zhang Fenglan, the head of the general management department of the company, who refused to cooperate with the investigation of the case, intentionally concealed the facts, provided false prices and instigated the relevant personnel to provide false evidence, which directly affected and obstructed the investigation of the case, was imposed an administrative penalty of RMB 50,000.10
SAMR Launches Antitrust Investigation into Academic Database CNKI.net
On May 13, SAMR published an announcement that it has launched an antitrust investigation into CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) for its suspected monopolistic practices. CNKI said in a statement that it would fully cooperate with the investigation and take it as an opportunity to carry out a self-examination.11
Courts Litigation
Monopoly Dispute over Wenzhen Art Kindergarten of Jinxian County Heard by Intellectual Property Tribunal of Supreme People's Court
On May 11, 2022, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court heard a case regarding monopoly agreement dispute. The court of first instance found that the plaintiff, the Art Kindergarten, entered into the cooperation agreement and the supplementary Cooperation agreement with the defendant, Liu Jia Yi Kindergarten, and the third parties Aile Kindergarten, Jin Beibei Kindergarten, and Talent Kindergarten, for the purpose of cooperation. The aforesaid agreements are considered as monopoly agreements.12
Footnotes
1 http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/kgfb/202205/62c0c240d4dc426595235d637073cc21.shtml
2 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/iikxa3V5YjipWCO0eTwQxQ
3 https://scjgj.shanxi.gov.cn/zwgk/zdgkjbml/tcfl/gstg/202205/t20220506_5946430.shtml
4 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YYhHcklR2Zj1IXXuRDbNFQ
5 https://www.163.com/dy/article/H8ENR72E052890RN.html
7 http://www.china.com.cn/zhibo/content_78228555.htm
8 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/dMyHCIKJpxuDPSvwGvGE8Q
9 http://scjgj.beijing.gov.cn/zwxx/scjgdt/202205/t20220519_2716559.html
10 https://www.samr.gov.cn/fldys/tzgg/xzcf/202205/t20220526_347331.html
11 https://www.samr.gov.cn/xw/zj/202205/t20220513_344850.html
12 http://tingshen.court.gov.cn/live/29181410
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