Antitrust Litigation in China

Matthew Bachrack, Cunzhen Huang, James Modrall, Jun 18, 2012

The legal basis for private antitrust civil litigation in China is Article 50 of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (the “AML”), which provides that “[w]here the monopolistic conduct of an undertaking has caused losses to another person, it shall bear civil liability according to law.” Since the AML entered into force on August 1, 2008, Chinese parties believing themselves to have been harmed by anti-competitive conduct have had more success in getting the attention of Chinese courts than of Chinese antitrust authorities. Chinese courts have reportedly accepted 61 antitrust cases and ruled on 53, although the courts have so far generally ruled in favor of the defendants.[1] By contrast, China’s anti-monopoly enforcement authorities (the “AMEAs”) have been relatively inactive in non-merger enforcement of the AML. The National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) have issued very few decisions regarding domestic cartels and have publicly reported only three abuse-of-dominance investigations.