CHINA: An Introduction to Competition/Antitrust (International Firms)
Overview
概述
The year 2023 marks the 15th anniversary of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML"). Having enforced antitrust law across the country for fifteen years, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") has shaped itself into one of the major antitrust authorities in the world.
2023年是中国《反垄断法》实施的第十五年。经过十五年的反垄断执法实践，国家市场监督管理总局（ “总局” ）已经成为世界上主要的反垄断执法机构之一。
The most remarkable legislative development in 2023 was that SAMR finally published the long-awaited implementing provisions ("Provisions") for enforcing the amended AML. Covering merger control, anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, abuse of intellectual property rights and abuse of administrative dominance, the Provisions further clarified critical topics such as control analysis, turnover calculation, the "stop-the-clock" mechanism, hub-and-spoke agreements, the definition of competitors, the scope of the leniency system's application, the assessment of specific abusive conduct, the identification of collective dominance, etc.
2023年最引人注目的立法进展是总局最终发布了期待已久的针对修订后的《反垄断法》的实施规定（ “《规定》” ）。《规定》分别就经营者集中审查、垄断协议、滥用市场支配地位、滥用知识产权和行政垄断进行了细化指引，进一步明确了控制权分析、营业额计算、 “停钟” 机制、轴辐协议、竞争关系定义、宽大制度的适用范围、具体滥用行为的评估、集体支配地位的认定等重要问题。
On the merger control front, the number of merger notifications in the first three quarters of 2023 has continued to increase compared to 2022, but gun-jumping enforcement remains inactive. Interestingly, as of 30th November 2023, there have not been any published gun-jumping penalty decisions since the adoption of the amended AML. 2023 also witnessed SAMR's first attempt to impose conditions on below-threshold transactions that have or may have anti-competitive effects.
在经营者集中审查方面，2023年前三季度经营者集中申报数量较2022年有所增加，但对应报未报和抢跑行为执法活动仍不活跃。自《反垄断法》修订案通过以来，截至2023年11月30日总局尚未公布任何针对应报未报或抢跑行为的处罚决定。值得注意的是，2023年中，总局首次对具有或可能具有反竞争效果的未达到申报标准的交易作出了附条件批准。
On the conduct side, livelihood-related sectors are, as expected, enforcement priorities of antitrust enforcement this year. The pharmaceutical sector attracted the closest scrutiny, and extensive cartel and abuse of dominance penalty decisions were issued concerning the public utilities, energy, construction and insurance industries. In addition, SAMR has expressed concerns about competition issues in the labour market for the first time, echoing global antitrust regulators' increasing clampdown on no-poaching arrangements among competing firms.
在垄断行为执法方面，民生领域不出所料地成为今年反垄断执法的重点领域。医药行业受到了最严格的审查。在公用事业、能源、建筑和保险行业等领域，总局也公布了多个针对横向垄断协议和滥用市场支配地位的处罚决定。此外，总局首次表达了对劳动力市场竞争问题的担忧，与全球反垄断监管机构加大力度打击竞争企业之间的互不挖角安排的执法趋势相呼应。
1. Legislation
立法
In March 2023, the SAMR published the final version of five sets of Provisions, which are in place to ensure smooth implementation of the amended AML which came into force on 1st August 2022. The five sets of provisions address, respectively, merger control, anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, abuse of intellectual property rights and administrative monopolies.
自2023年3月起，总局发布了五部《规定》的最终版本，旨在确保2022年8月1日起施行的修订后的《反垄断法》的顺利实施。这五部《规定》分别针对经营者集中审查、垄断协议、滥用市场支配地位，滥用知识产权和行政垄断五大内容。
- On merger control, key topics including control analysis, turnover calculation, factors for determining "implementation" of the transaction, the "stop-the-clock" mechanism and review of below-threshold transactions are further clarified.
经营者集中方面：包括控制权分析、营业额计算、判断交易“实施”的因素、停钟制度、未达到申报标准的集中审查等主要焦点问题均被进一步澄清。
- On anti-competitive agreements, the 15% market share threshold proposed in the consultation draft for the safe harbour rule has been dropped. More clarification is provided regarding hub-and-spoke agreements, and the definition of competitors, the scope of the leniency system's application, case establishment criteria in investigations and soft measures to promote antitrust compliance are newly introduced.
垄断协议方面：征求意见稿中引入的15%市场份额安全港条款未被纳入最终版本；轴辐协议得到了的进一步解释；增加了竞争关系的定义、宽大制度的适用范围和立案标准以及推进反垄断合规的软措施等内容。
- On abuse of dominance, the digital economy's rising impact is reflected, and more detailed guidance is provided for the assessment of specific abusive conduct and the identification of collective dominance.
滥用市场支配地位方面：数字经济不断扩大的影响在《规定》中得到了体现，且《规定》提供了对于具体滥用行为的分析要素以及共同支配地位的认定方式的具体指引。
- On abuse of intellectual property rights, more detailed guidance is provided for the assessment of the market dominance of an IP rights holder; liabilities of coordinators and facilitators exercising IP rights are newly introduced, and safe harbour rules are amended to align with the Anti-monopoly Guideline on Intellectual Property Rights; IP-related factors to be considered in merger review and the specific circumstances of remedies are summarised and reflected.
滥用知识产权方面：增加了评估知识产权权利人市场支配地位的细化指引；增加了知识产权垄断协议的组织者和帮助者的责任；修改了安全港规则，与《国务院反垄断委员会关于知识产权领域的反垄断指南》保持一致；总结了经营者集中审查中的知识产权相关考虑因素和附加限制性条件的具体情形。
The Provisions, on the one hand, offer better clarity for companies to comply with the amended AML and, on the other hand, offer normative guidance for SAMR to enforce the amended AML. The Provisions have also left some important questions, such as the specific market share threshold of the safe harbour applicable to vertical agreements, which remain to be answered in the follow-up implementation rules.
《规定》为企业提供了基于修订后《反垄断法》提供了更加清晰的指南，也为总局的执法活动提供了规范性指引。《规定》也留下了一些重要问题，例如纵向垄断协议安全港的具体市场份额门槛等，有待后续实施细则予以澄清。
2. Merger control
经营者集中
The number of merger notifications in the first three quarters of 2023 has continued to increase compared to 2022, but the gun-jumping enforcement remain inactive as of 30th November 2023. There have not been any published gun-jumping penalty decisions since the adoption of the amended AML, and it remains to be seen whether SAMR may apply the new penalty rules retroactively to gun-jumping transactions notified or investigated before the amended AML took effect.
与2022年相比，2023年前三季度的经营者集中申报数量持续增长，但与此同时，截至2023年11月30日，对于应报未报或抢跑的行政执法却并不活跃。自新修订的《反垄断法》出台后，尚未有任何就应报未报或抢跑的公开处罚决定，因此，就新修订的《反垄断法》是否应回溯性地适用于新法修订生效前申报或被调查的涉及应报未报或抢跑的交易，尚有待案例进一步明确。
As of 30th November 2023, SAMR has conditionally approved four cases. Two of the four cases concern the semiconductor sector, which demonstrates SAMR's consistent heightened scrutiny of semiconductor deals. SAMR’s merger reviews of semiconductor deals were also under the spotlight in two abandoned transactions involving the United States in the semiconductor sector, i.e., MaxLinear/Silicon Motion and Intel/Tower Semiconductor. In particular, SAMR conditionally approved MaxLinear/Silicon Motion but the deal was nonetheless terminated due to other reasons. Intel/Tower Semiconductor did not proceed due to the failure to receive SAMR’s clearance by the extended long stop date.
截至2023年11月30日，总局已附条件批准了四起经营者集中案件，其中两起案件涉及半导体行业，体现了总局对半导体行业交易始终保持较高水平的监管关注。就迈凌收购慧荣科技以及英特尔收购高塔半导体两个交易，虽然交易方最终决定终止交易，总局对这两起交易的经营者集中审查还是引起了不少关注，特别是，对于迈凌收购慧荣科技，交易本已取得了总局的附条件批准，但最终还是因为其他原因终止。而英特尔收购高塔半导体则是因为未在已延长的交易截止日前获得总局的批准而被终止。
Notably, the SAMR conditionally approved a below-threshold transaction for the first time, exercising its new power granted by the amended AML. Simcere Pharmaceutical's proposed acquisition of Beijing Tobishi Pharmaceutical was announced in 2017 but has not been closed for several years due to protracted commercial disputes. Despite falling below the Chinese merger control threshold, both parties voluntarily submitted the transaction to SAMR soon after the release of the amended AML. The voluntary submission may have been driven by SAMR's increased antitrust scrutiny on Simcere and the parties' growing antitrust awareness. To address the relevant competition concerns, SAMR imposed six-year hybrid conditions, marking SAMR's first attempt to impose conditions on below-threshold transactions that have or may have anti-competitive effects.
值得注意的是，总局还按照新修订的《反垄断法》下赋予的职权首次附条件批准了一起未达到申报标准的交易。2017年，先声药业宣布收购北京托毕西药业，但该交易由于冗长的商业诉讼迟迟未交割。虽然该交易并未达到中国经营者集中申报的标准，但双方在新修订的《反垄断法》公布后自愿将此交易申报给总局。双方之所以自愿提交此交易可能是考虑到总局针对先声药业的监管关注以及双方的合规意识的增加。为消除交易的竞争关注，总局附加了为期六年的混合式救济，这也成为总局对未达到申报标准而产生或可能产生反竞争影响的交易首次附加条件。
At the local level, the pilot program on the delegation of merger control review to five local Administrations for Market Regulation (“AMR”) in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Chongqing and Shaanxi has reportedly made significant progress. According to the summary assessment of the pilot program released by SAMR on 20th July 2023, since 1st August 2022, 287 cases have been delegated to local AMRs for review, accounting for 40.7% of the simple cases reviewed over that period.
在地方层级，经营者集中审查权限下放省级试点工作（即将权限下放至北京、上海、广东、重庆和陕西五个直辖市或省级市场监督管理局）取得较大进展。根据总局2023年7月20日公布的试点工作评估总结，自2022年8月1日，合计287件经营者集中案件下放至上述五试点进行审查，约占该期间所有审查的简易程序案件的40.7%。
3. Enforcement
执法
Livelihood-related sectors are, as expected, enforcement priorities of antitrust enforcement this year. The first three quarters witnessed extensive cartel and abuse of dominance penalty decisions concerning, among others, the building materials, liquefied petroleum gas, water supply, civil explosives, heating, pipeline gas and safety insurance industries. Notably, the pharma sector attracted the closest scrutiny, with five decisions made against cartels, RPMs, abuse of dominance by API and pharmaceutical suppliers.
民生领域的执法不出意外成为今年反垄断执法的重点。在今年的前三季度，大量涉及建筑材料、液化石油气、供水、民用爆破器材、供热、燃气以及安全保险行业的垄断协议和滥用市场支配地位的处罚决定被做出。特别是，对于医药行业的监管持续升温，合计对原料药和医药供应商的横向垄断协议、转售价格维持和滥用市场支配地位行为做出了五项处罚决定。
On 12th September 2023, SAMR published 10 typical anti-monopoly enforcement cases concerning people's livelihood sectors, including agriculture, energy, insurance and construction, again demonstrating the regulator's commitment to promoting fair competition and protecting consumers from anti-competitive practices.
2023年9月12日，总局公布了民生领域的十大典型反垄断执法案件，包括农业、能源、保险和建筑，再一次证明了监管机构促进公平竞争和保护消费者不受垄断行为不当影响的决心。
It is worth mentioning that SAMR demonstrated for the first time its interests in no-poach agreements. On 31st July 2023, SAMR summoned four hog breeders that were found to have initiated and signed a no-poach agreement, advocating non-poaching and non-solicitation during an industrial forum on 20th June 2023. SAMR pointed out that this agreement goes against the spirit of the AML and ordered the four companies to rectify their actions and ensure compliance with antitrust rules. After the meeting with SAMR, the four companies issued a joint statement on the same day, stating that they would implement corrective measures and revoke the problematic no-poach agreement. SAMR's move marks the first time the Chinese antitrust regulator has expressed concerns about competition issues in the labour market. In the same press release, SAMR also announced its determination to closely monitor the competition landscape in the country's labour market.
值得一提的是，总局对“互不挖角”协议首次表现出了关注。2023年7月31日，总局约谈了四家生猪生产商，这四家生产商被发现在2023年6月20日行业论坛上发起并签订了包含互不挖角和互不招揽内容的协议。总局指出此类的协议违反了《反垄断法》的精神，并要求四家公司改正其行为并确保反垄断合规。在与总局会议后，上述四家公司当天即联合发布了声明，表明其将落实整改措施并撤销有问题的互不挖角协议。总局的此次行动标志着中国反垄断执法机构首次关注劳务市场上的竞争问题。在相关的新闻稿件中，总局也宣布，其决定将更加紧密的监督国内劳务动力市场的竞争环境。