New Wine into Old Wineskins: Recent Developments in China’s Competition Policy against Monopolistic/Collusive Agreements

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Xinzhu Zhang (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Research Center for Regulation and Competition) and Vanessa Yanhua Zhang (Global Economics Group, LLC; Renmin University of China) discuss New Wine into Old Wineskins: Recent Developments in China’s Competition Policy against Monopolistic/Collusive Agreements

ABSTRACT: China’s anti-monopoly law contains comprehensive legal rules against monopolistic/collusive agreements. However, the legal standards for defining monopolistic agreements and the applicability of exemption and leniency programs need to be further clarified. Moreover, several coordination problems caused by the special organizational features of China’s antitrust institutions need to be addressed carefully. The Chinese antitrust authorities therefore face tremendous challenges in enforcement given both the intrinsic complications of monopolistic conduct and the existence of some inadequacies in the existing competition policy regime.