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China: Landmark trade deal could spare South Korean firms from antitrust troubles

By  |  November 20, 2014

A landmark trade agreement inked between China and South Korea would classify South Korean companies as domestic companies, granting them “national treatment” that could spare the firms from harsh antitrust treatment as a foreign entity.

According to reports, while exact terms of the agreement are still pending on both sides, the deal could include a provision regarding due process and appeals in antitrust investigations regarding South Korean companies. Reports say such benefits could offer a great advantage to the companies as criticism mounts over Chinese competition authorities’ allegedly unfair treatment towards foreign companies.

South Korea would be the first nation to gain such rights in China, reports say.

South Korea previously gained antitrust provisions in a trade agreement with the US; the 2007 deal offered “robust procedural protections” for antitrust matters to South Korean companies.

Full content: CNBC

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