Anti-Monopoly Law: New Revisions to Anti-Monopoly Law

Anti-Monopoly Law: New Revisions to Anti-Monopoly Law

1. Anti-Monopoly Law: New Revisions to Anti-Monopoly Law

The Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Amending the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China was adopted on June 24, 2022, which shall come into force on August 1, 2022 (the “Amendment”). This is the first amendment of current applicable Anti-Monopoly Law since its implementation in 2008, which will address new issues encountered these years to help boost fair competition in the market and further improve China’s anti-monopoly rules and enforcement.

The principal revisions are as follows:

(1) Rules related to enforcement authority

The anti-monopoly enforcement authority has been changing over the years. At the beginning of the implementation of the current applicable Anti-Monopoly Law,1 the enforcement authorities were the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce. It changed into the State Administration for Market Supervision in 2018 and then there were proposals of establishing a National Anti-Monopoly Bureau in 2021.

According to the Amendment, it was changed to the “anti-monopoly enforcement authority of the State Council”,2 leaving room for possible future institutional adjustments.

(2) Rules related to digital platform

To ensure the healthy development of digital platform industry, the Amendment clarifies that business operators must not exploit any data or algorithms, technology, capital advantages or platform rules to engage in any monopolistic conduct prohibited by this Law.3

(3) Rules related to Resale Price Maintenance

Resale Price Maintenance refers to a price restriction demanded by an upstream company to retain control of the price of its products to the downstream company selling its products.

The following resale price maintenance agreements are prohibited in China:

  1. Agreement restricting the minimum price for resale to a third party
  2. Agreement fixing the price for resale to a third party

The Amendment newly adds that resale price maintenance agreements will not be prohibited if:4

  1. the business operator can prove that it does not have the effect of excluding or limiting competition5 or
  2. the business operator can prove that their market share in the relevant market is lower than the threshold set by the enforcement authority6

Further clarification and detailed legislation will be released to clarify the implementation of the Amendment.

Should you need any details about the amended Anti-Monopoly Law, please kindly reach asialians@asiallians.com.

http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/kgfb/202206/24e425d6ac624742a4460ec90dae0d9a.shtml

2. Covid-19 Update: New Visa Policy to Enter China

Under the current visa policy, for travelers to enter China, an invitation letter7approved by Chinese government shall be obtained first. Upon receipt of such invitation letter, travelers can further apply for several types of Visas. The invitation letter is not easy to obtain as there are many conditions to be met.

From June 28, 2022, when applying for a business (M) or visit (F) visa those in France who wish to travel to China for the purpose of resuming work or economic activities (in the commercial, educational, scientific, sports and cultural sectors) no longer need to provide the invitation letter issued by the competent Chinese authorities, as per the announcement of Chinese Embassy in France.

Should you need to know more details about the visa policy, please kindly contact asiallians@asiallians.com

http://fr.china-embassy.gov.cn/zgzfg/zgsg/lsb/202206/t20220628_10711269.htm

http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2022-04/07/content_5683886.htm

As always, Asiallians remains at your service and our teams are currently mobilized in all our offices in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taipei.

  1. The current applicable Anti-Monopoly Law came into force in August 2008.
  2. Article 13 of the Amendment
  3. Article 9 of the Amendment
  4. Article 18 of the Amendment.
  5. However, there is no further details released yet to know how to prove that there is no effect of excluding/limiting competition. Asiallians will monitor further explanations/legislations to be released.
  6. Threshold of market share set by the enforcement authority was not released yet. Asiallians will monitor further explanations/legislations to be released.
  7. The Letter of Invitation has been required since March 17, 2022.