Clifford Chance
Antitrust in China and across the region Quarterly Update: April to June 2015
24 July 2015
In China, the last quarter has seen continued enforcement by NDRC and SAIC's provincial level agencies. Since April's RMB 350 million (USD 59 million) fine on Mercedes Benz, the agencies have focused on domestic companies. There have also been a number of policy developments over this period:
- In the pharmaceutical sector, NDRC relaxed direct price regulation, but announced a six month pricing investigation in order to identify potential infringements of antitrust or other sector-specific rules.
- In the field of intellectual property rights, SAIC finally published its rules on when the enforcement of these rights might breach competition law and the circumstances in which licence-holders may be compelled to grant a licence. Meanwhile, NDRC is preparing its own rules on the same topic.
- In relation to merger control, last quarter saw another record number of cases reviewed by MOFCOM – 91, all unconditionally cleared. Also notable was MOFCOM's close co-operation with US and South Korean authorities in the ultimately abandoned Applied Materials / Tokyo Electron merger.
- Outside China, the Philippines' Congress passed a new Competition Act; India introduced some changes to its merger review procedures; and reforms were implemented in Japan and Taiwan.
