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In Competition

A Structured Guide to Competition Compliance in China

28 June 2019

A year on from the consolidation of China’s competition regulatory functions into the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and just over a decade from the introduction of the Antimonopoly Law (AML), partners from King & Wood Mallesons’ China practice provide a structured guide to competition compliance in the country. Combining a deep understanding of the relevant statute and case law with insights only extensive practical experience can provide, the guide provides a comprehensive introduction to a relatively nebulous, but growing, area of Chinese law.

Specifically, the guide covers:

  • Competition compliance programs
    • what they are;
    • their applicability; and
    • the four stages of implementation – namely risk-identification, risk-assessment, risk-mitigation and review.
  • Dealings with competitors – including:
    • the arrangements to avoid;
    • suggested precautions;
    • cartel behaviour;
    • avoiding sanctions; and
    • exchanging information.
  • Leniency
    • the availability of leniency programs, particularly in relation to cartels;
    • the effects of whistleblowing; and
    • the status of new Draft Leniency Guidelines.
  • Dealings with commercial partners – including:
    • which vertical agreements are subject to enforcement and which are exempted;
    • dominant market players and how dominance is determined;
    • findings of abuse of dominance.
  • Mergers and Acquisitions – including:
    • whether competition authority approval is required;
    • how long the approvals process normally takes;
    • the effect of an approval; and
    • the impact of a failure to file an approval application.
  • Investigations and settlement – including:
    • circumstances requiring separate legal representation;
    • dealing with dawn raids;
    • settlement mechanisms, considering there is no legislated settlement procedure;
    • corporate monitorships;
    • statements of facts;
    • invoking legal privilege;
    • confidentiality protection; the consequences of refusing to cooperate;
    • infringement notification and limitation periods.
  • Miscellaneous – including:
    • the abuse of administrative power to eliminate or restrict competition;
    • the overlap of the AML with other laws; and
    • the circumstances in which each is usually engaged; and finally the outlook for possible future reforms.

To access the guide, please follow this link.

Image credit: The Bund – Shanghai, China by David Berkowitz / Flickr / CC2.0 / Remixed to B&W and resized

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