Clifford Chance

SAMR Publishes the Long-awaited Implementing Provisions for the Amended AML

April 4, 2023

On 24 March 2023, the Chinese antitrust authority, i.e., the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR"), published the final version of four sets of crucial antitrust provisions, which are in place to ensure smooth implementation of the Amended Anti-Monopoly Law which was adopted on 24 June 2022 and came into force on 1 August 2022 ("Amended AML").

The four sets of provisions address, respectively, merger control, anti-competitive agreements abuse of dominance, and abuse of administrative dominance ("Final Provisions"). The draft version of these provisions was published for consultation ("Consultation Draft") on 27 June 2022, closely following the official publication of the Amended AML.

The predecessors of these Final Provisions were published in around 2019 and 2020 in interim status and will be formally superseded by the Final Provisions from 15 April 2023.

Despite the different areas of focus, common themes across the Final Provisions appear to be addressing antitrust challenges arising from the digital economy, and further enhancing antitrust regulation and enforcement in China. We have set forth below highlights of each set of the Final Provisions, respectively.

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