Clifford Chance
Antitrust in China and across the Region: Quarterly Update April to June 2020
28 July 2020
Key developments:
- Last quarter saw a sharp pick up in merger activity in China – 104 cases approved, all but three of them unconditionally. Interestingly, in the three conditionally approved cases, it was not horizontal overlaps which prompted SAMR's concerns, but rather vertical or conglomerate issues and the remedies in each case contain a similar mix of requirements to offer FRAND terms; to maintain supplies of individual products and not to bundle sales of different products.
- Antitrust enforcement was relatively muted in China last quarter, with four decisions issued, including one of around RMB 204 million (USD 29 million) on three distributors of active pharmaceutical ingredients for imposing excessive prices and unfair trading terms.
- Outside China, last quarter saw a lot of activity in Hong Kong, including the Competition Tribunal imposing the first set of financial penalties under the Competition Ordinance; the Competition Commission imposing its first set of commitments on three online travel agencies in relation to price parity clauses; the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Competition Commission and the Securities and Futures Commission; and the appointment of Samuel Chan Ka-yan as the new chairperson of the Competition Commission. Other notable developments in APAC last quarter include the publication by the JFTC of new rules on a limited form of legal privilege in relation to antitrust investigations; the approval of a Digital Platform Bill by the Japanese Diet; approval by the KFTC of the merger of two domestic airlines on the basis of a failing firm defence; and in Australia, the ACCC lost an appeal against its attempt to block Pacific National's acquisition of the Acacia Ridge terminal in Brisbane.
