China’s decade-old antitrust law still vexes foreign companies

Posted by Nikkei Asian Review

China’s decade-old antitrust law still vexes foreign companies

By Shunnsuke Tabeta 

A decade on, China’s antitrust law remains a thorn in the side of foreign companies as they are singled out by regulators that go out of their way to give domestic enterprises a competitive advantage.

Chinese authorities said on Friday that they “regret” Qualcomm’s decision to terminate a deal for Dutch rival NXP Semiconductors, since they had not rejected the acquisition but only extended the review period by two months.

But that is not how the industry sees it. “A postponement is essentially a rejection,” said an executive at an information technology company.

China’s review period is supposed to take about four months. But delays are common for political reasons and an apparent lack of staff.

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