Adrian Emch

Practice Areas

Competition / Antitrust

Career

• 2025-present: Hylands Law Firm, Shanghai Office | Senior Counsel

• 2010-2025: Hogan Lovells International LLP, Beijing Office | Partner

• Prior to this, Adrian had worked at the Beijing, Brussels and Madrid offices of several international law firms.

Professional Memberships

• Spanish Bar Qualification

• Fulbright Alumni Association of Switzerland | Founding Member

• Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Law | Lecturer

• Non-governmental advisor to the International Competition Network

• Member of the Editorial Board of Competition Law International, the IBA's antitrust journal

• Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of CPI Antitrust Chronicle

Publications

Adrian has published extensively on Chinese and EU antitrust and trade law topics.

Personal

Adrian Emch is a Senior Counsel at Hylands’ Shanghai office and an expert in antitrust and regulatory law. He has worked and lived in China for over ten years and is fluent in Mandarin. He has worked and lived in China for over ten years and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

For domestic projects, his practice covers all areas of Chinese antitrust law, including merger control, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance investigations, and antitrust compliance advisory. For cross-border projects, he provides advisory services to numerous large Chinese SOEs and private enterprises on overseas regulatory compliance matters, including global antitrust filings, overseas competition law investigations, the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and foreign investment.

With a global perspective, excellent communication skills, and outstanding capabilities in legal practice, Adrian is highly trusted by clients. He also served as Chair of the Legal and Competition Working Group at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. He has taught "EU Law and Policy" and "International Competition Law" as a lecturer at Peking University Law School and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Law School.

Clients

Adrian practices across the full spectrum of domestic and cross-border antitrust matters. He not only provides antitrust filing services to Chinese state-owned enterprises, industry-leading companies and overseas enterprises, but also offers China antitrust compliance consulting for both Chinese and foreign clients. Meanwhile, he has handled a series of high-profile antitrust litigation cases in China and Europe.

For domestic practice, Adrian expertise covers all core areas of China's Anti-Monopoly Law, including merger control review, cartel investigation response, abuse of dominant market position investigation defense, and ongoing antitrust compliance consulting.

For cross-border practice, he advises a number of major Chinese state-owned and private enterprises on multi-area overseas regulatory compliance issues, including response to foreign competition law investigations, national subsidy compliance review, and regulatory alignment for foreign investment. Notably, Adrian has assisted Chinese enterprises in handling multiple European Commission regulatory cases, with representative engagements including acting for Chinese enterprises to obtain EU merger clearance, participating in EU merger review proceedings as a third party, and representing Chinese enterprises in responding to investigations by the European Commission.

Experience

Adrian Emch is a Senior Counsel at Hylands’ Shanghai office and an expert in antitrust and regulatory law. He has worked and lived in China for over ten years and is fluent in Mandarin. He has worked and lived in China for over ten years and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

For domestic projects, Adrian's practice covers all areas of Chinese antitrust law, including merger control, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance investigations, and antitrust compliance advisory. For cross-border projects, he provides advisory services to numerous large Chinese SOEs and private enterprises on overseas regulatory compliance matters, including global antitrust filings, overseas competition law investigations, the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and foreign investment.

Industry Sector Expertise

Resources and Mining

• Provided legal advice on antitrust compliance and competitive sensitive information barrier mechanisms for a joint venture between a Chinese mineral enterprise and its competitor.

Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT)

• Assisted IBM in obtaining approval from China's antitrust merger review for two transactions: the sale of its server business to a Chinese computer company and the sale of its semiconductor business to a renowned U.S. semiconductor company.

• Assisted Google in obtaining conditional approval for its acquisition of Motorola through China's antitrust filing process.

• Represented a Chinese high-tech company in participating as a third party in the European Commission's investigation into an alleged monopoly agreement/abusive market dominance by a U.S. company.

Engineering and Manufacturing

• Assisted China Baowu Steel Group Corporation Limited in antitrust filing legal services for its investment in the Simandou Iron Ore Mine Project in Guinea, including global antitrust filing obligation analysis and coordination of overseas filings.

• Assisted Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. in antitrust filing legal services for establishing an automotive aluminum sheet joint venture with Kobe Steel, including global antitrust filing obligation analysis and coordination of overseas filings in China, South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey, the EU, and other jurisdictions.

• Assisted a Chinese chemical enterprise in conducting preliminary antitrust analysis for a potential acquisition of a U.S. competitor's relevant business.

• Assisted a European chemical company in obtaining China's antitrust approval for the divestiture and restructuring of certain chemical assets in China.

Health and Life Sciences

• Provided consulting services for a Chinese medical device company in formulating antitrust compliance manuals applicable to multiple global jurisdictions.

• Represented a South African pharmaceutical enterprise in filing China's antitrust application for the acquisition of a multinational company's Chinese pharmaceutical business and assets.

Energy and Utilities

• Assisted a Chinese private new energy company with FSR compliance risk analysis and remediation.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

China, EU, Hong Kong

Languages Spoken

Mandarin Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish

Work Highlights

Representative antitrust filing experience:

• Assisted China Baowu Steel Group Corporation Limited in antitrust filing legal services for its investment in the Simandou Iron Ore Mine Project in Guinea, including global antitrust filing obligation analysis and coordination of overseas filings.

• Assisted IBM in obtaining approval from China's antitrust merger review for two transactions: the sale of its server business to a Chinese computer company and the sale of its semiconductor business to a renowned U.S. semiconductor company.

• Represented Alstom in GE's acquisition of Alstom, assisting in China's antitrust merger review process and securing approval.

• Assisted Google in obtaining conditional approval for its acquisition of Motorola through China's antitrust filing process.

• Assisted BASF in obtaining China's antitrust approval for its €3.1 billion acquisition of competitor Cognis.

• Assisted BASF in obtaining China's antitrust approval for the sale of its water treatment division to Solenis.

• Assisted a European chemical company in obtaining China's antitrust approval for the divestiture and restructuring of certain chemical assets in China.

Representative antitrust compliance experience in China

• Conducted year-long internal antitrust investigation, including document review and interviews, for Western company to reduce antitrust risks in distribution chain.

• Assisted multinational company to conduct internal investigation to address antitrust and anti-bribery risks.

• Conducted internal investigations on China's antitrust law and bidding law compliance for a U.S. manufacturing multinational company and provided compliance improvement suggestions to promote business operations while ensuring compliance.

• Represented a European luxury goods enterprise in preparing competition compliance manuals to address Asian antitrust risks in collaboration with its Asian headquarters.

• Delivered antitrust compliance training (including surprise inspection training) for numerous Chinese and multinational companies.

Representative antitrust investigation & dispute resolution experience

• Assisted a European shipping company in global investigations into alleged automotive transport cartel conduct by antitrust authorities in the EU, China, and other countries.

• Assisted another European shipping company in handling investigations by Chinese antitrust authorities into alleged excessive port fees and other high service charges imposed on Chinese clients.

• Assisted a European multinational company in responding to an abusive market dominance investigation by Chinese antitrust authorities.

• Assisted a U.S. multinational company in handling an abusive market dominance investigation conducted by Chinese antitrust authorities.

• Represented an Asian company in participating in the European Commission's investigation into the LCD/CRT cartel case.

Representative FSR experience

• Assisted a Chinese state-owned enterprise in responding to the first in-depth investigation launched by the European Commission under the FSR.

• Assisted a Chinese private new energy company with FSR compliance risk analysis and remediation.

• Assisted a Chinese state-owned enterprise in responding to a dawn raid launched by the European Commission under the FSR.

• Provided legal services to multiple Chinese state-owned enterprises regarding FSR public procurement notifications.

Awards

Education