Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2022)
Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2022)
Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2022)
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 116
June 24, 2022
(Adopted at the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress on August 30, 2007, and amended by the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China at the 35th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on June 24, 2022)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Monopoly Agreements
Chapter III Abuse of Dominant Market Position
Chapter IV Concentrations of Undertakings
Chapter V Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude or Limit Competition
Chapter VI Investigation into Suspected Monopolistic Conduct
Chapter VII Legal Liability
Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted to prevent and end monopolistic conduct, protect fair market competition, encourage innovation, raise economic efficiency, protect the interests of consumers and the public, and promote a healthy development of the socialist market economy.
Article 2 This Law is applicable to any monopolistic conduct in economic activities carried out within the People's Republic of China. This Law is also applicable to monopolistic conduct outside of the People's Republic of China which has an effect of excluding or limiting the competition in China’s domestic market.
Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, "monopolistic conduct" includes:
(1) the conclusion of a monopoly agreement between business operators;
(2) the abuse of a dominant market position by a business operator; and
(3) a concentration of undertakings which has or may have an effect of excluding or limiting market competition.
Article 4 The leadership of the Communist Party of China shall be adhered to in anti-monopoly efforts.
The State shall, in adherence to the market-based principle and the rule of law, enhance the status of the competition policy as a basic policy, formulate and implement competition rules that are compatible with the socialist market economy, improve macro-control, and establish a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system.
Article 5 The State shall establish a sound fair competition review scheme.
Administrative agencies and organizations authorized by laws or regulations to perform the function of administrating public affairs shall conduct fair competition reviews when formulating any regulations which involve market participants' economic activities.
Article 6 Business operators may, through fair competition or voluntary association, be concentrated lawfully in order to expand their business scale and improve their market competitiveness.
Article 7 Business operators who have a dominant market position must not abuse that dominant position to exclude or limit competition.
Article 8 The State shall protect the lawful business activities of the business operators from industries of vital economic or national security importance in which the state-owed sector of the economy holds controlling position or the industries which implement monopolization legally, and shall regulate and control the business activities of such business operators as well as the prices of their products and/or services pursuant to the law to protect the interests of consumers and promote technological advances.
The business operators referred to in the preceding paragraph shall conduct business operations lawfully and in good faith, carry out strict self-regulation, and accept the supervision of the general public, and must not use their controlling position or their exclusive trading status to harm the interests of consumers.
Article 9 Business operators must not exploit any data or algorithms, technology, capital advantages or platform rules or otherwise to engage in any monopolistic conduct prohibited by this Law.
Article 10 Administrative agencies and other organizations authorized by laws or regulations to perform the function of administrating public affairs must not abuse their administrative powers to exclude or limit competition.
Article 11 The State shall improve the anti-monopoly rules and regime, step up anti-monopoly regulatory strength, improve regulatory capabilities and the level of modernization of the regulatory system, enhance anti-monopoly law enforcement and justice administration, adjudicate monopoly cases by law and in a fair and efficient manner, improve the mechanism that links administrative law enforcement to justice administration, and maintain the order of fair competition.
12. The State Council shall establish an anti-monopoly commission to take charge of organizing, coordinating, and guiding anti-monopoly efforts and to perform the following duties:
(1) studying and drafting competition-related policies;
(2) organizing investigations and assessments of the overall status of competition in the market and publishing relevant reports;
(3) formulating and releasing anti-monopoly guidelines;
(4) coordinating anti-monopoly administrative law enforcement activities; and
(5) other duties as required by the State Council.
The composition and rules of procedure of the anti-monopoly commission shall be determined by the State Council.
Article 13 The State Council's anti-monopoly law enforcement authority (hereinafter referred to as the "State Council's AML enforcement authority") shall be in charge of centralized anti-monopoly law enforcement.
The State Council's AML enforcement authority may delegate as needed, a corresponding authority of the people's government of a provinces, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government to be responsible for relevant anti-monopoly law enforcement activities in accordance with this Law.
Article 14 Trade associations shall enhance their self-regulation, guide the business operators of their respective trades to engage in lawful competition and compliance business operations, and maintain the good order of market competition.
Article 15 For the purposes of this Law, "business operator" refers to a natural person, legal person, or unincorporated organization which produces or sells products or provides services.
For the purposes of this Law, "relevant market" refers to the range of products and the territorial scope in which business operators compete with each other to provide a particular product or service (hereinafter referred to as a "product") during a certain period of time.
Chapter II Monopoly Agreements
Article16 For the purposes of this Law, "monopoly agreements" refer to any agreement, decision, or other concerted action to exclude or limit competition.
Article 17 The following monopoly agreements between business operators who are in competition with each other are prohibited:
(1) those on fixing or changing the prices of a product;
(2) those on limiting the production or sales volume of a product;
(3) those on dividing a sales market or the market from which raw materials are purchased;
(4) those on restricting the purchase of new technology or new equipment or preventing the development thereof; and
(5) those on boycotting trading; and
(6) other monopoly agreements as determined by the State Council's AML enforcement authority.
Article 18 The following monopoly agreements between a business operator and a transaction counterparty are prohibited:
(1) those on fixing the price for resale of a product to a third party;
(2) those on restricting the minimum price for resale of a product to a third party; and
(3) other monopoly agreements as determined by the State Council's AML enforcement authority.
An agreement as specified in sub-paragraph 1 or 2 of the preceding paragraph will not be prohibited if the business operator can prove that it does not have the effect of excluding or limiting competition.
Said agreement will not be prohibited if the business operator can prove that their market share in the relevant market is lower than the threshold set by the State Council's AML enforcement authority and other conditions set by the State Council's AML enforcement authority are also met.
Article 19 A business operator must not organize other business operators to enter into a monopoly agreement or provide substantive assistance to another business operator in entering into a monopoly agreement.
Article 20 Article 17, the first paragraph of Article 18, or 19 hereof shall not be applicable if business operators can prove that the agreements are concluded for:
(1) improving technology, or engaging in the research and development of a new product;
(2) improving product quality, lowering cost, increasing efficiency, unifying product specifications or standards, or implementing a specialized division of labor;
(3) improving the operation efficiency and competitiveness of small and medium-sized business operators;
(4) realizing public interests such as energy conservation, environmental protection, and rescue and relief efforts;
(5) alleviating a sharp decrease in sales or significant overproduction due to an economic downturn;
(6) protecting legitimate interests during foreign trade or foreign economic cooperation; or
(7) other circumstances as specified by laws or the State Council.
Where Article 17, the first paragraph of Article 18, or Article 19 hereof does not apply when any of the circumstances under subparagraphs (1) through (5) of the preceding paragraph occurs, the business operators shall also prove that the agreement concluded does not gravely limit competition in the relevant market and can enable consumers to share the benefits therefrom.
Article 21 Trade associations must not make arrangements for business operators within their respective trades to engage in any monopolistic conduct prohibited in this Chapter.
Chapter III Abuse of Dominant Market Position
Article 22 A business operator who holds a dominant market position shall be prohibited from engaging in the following conduct by abusing its dominant market position:
(1) selling a product at an unfairly high price or buying a product at an unfairly low price;
(2) selling a product at a price below cost without legitimate reasons;
(3) refusing to transact with a counterparty without legitimate reasons;
(4) restricting a counterparty to dealings only with it or with any business operator designated by it without legitimate reasons;
(5) engaging in tying without legitimate reasons, or imposing other unreasonable transaction terms on a transaction;
(6) applying different treatment in terms of transaction price or other transaction terms to counterparties with equal standing without legitimate reasons; and
(7) any other conduct as identified by the State Council's AML enforcement authority to be an abuse of dominant market position.
A business operator with a dominant market position must not exploit any data or algorithms, technology or platform rules or otherwise to engage in the abuse of a dominant market position described in the preceding paragraph.
......
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 116
June 24, 2022
(Adopted at the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress on August 30, 2007, and amended by the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China at the 35th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on June 24, 2022)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Monopoly Agreements
Chapter III Abuse of Dominant Market Position
Chapter IV Concentrations of Undertakings
Chapter V Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude or Limit Competition
Chapter VI Investigation into Suspected Monopolistic Conduct
Chapter VII Legal Liability
Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted to prevent and end monopolistic conduct, protect fair market competition, encourage innovation, raise economic efficiency, protect the interests of consumers and the public, and promote a healthy development of the socialist market economy.
Article 2 This Law is applicable to any monopolistic conduct in economic activities carried out within the People's Republic of China. This Law is also applicable to monopolistic conduct outside of the People's Republic of China which has an effect of excluding or limiting the competition in China’s domestic market.
Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, "monopolistic conduct" includes:
(1) the conclusion of a monopoly agreement between business operators;
(2) the abuse of a dominant market position by a business operator; and
(3) a concentration of undertakings which has or may have an effect of excluding or limiting market competition.
Article 4 The leadership of the Communist Party of China shall be adhered to in anti-monopoly efforts.
The State shall, in adherence to the market-based principle and the rule of law, enhance the status of the competition policy as a basic policy, formulate and implement competition rules that are compatible with the socialist market economy, improve macro-control, and establish a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system.
Article 5 The State shall establish a sound fair competition review scheme.
Administrative agencies and organizations authorized by laws or regulations to perform the function of administrating public affairs shall conduct fair competition reviews when formulating any regulations which involve market participants' economic activities.
Article 6 Business operators may, through fair competition or voluntary association, be concentrated lawfully in order to expand their business scale and improve their market competitiveness.
Article 7 Business operators who have a dominant market position must not abuse that dominant position to exclude or limit competition.
Article 8 The State shall protect the lawful business activities of the business operators from industries of vital economic or national security importance in which the state-owed sector of the economy holds controlling position or the industries which implement monopolization legally, and shall regulate and control the business activities of such business operators as well as the prices of their products and/or services pursuant to the law to protect the interests of consumers and promote technological advances.
The business operators referred to in the preceding paragraph shall conduct business operations lawfully and in good faith, carry out strict self-regulation, and accept the supervision of the general public, and must not use their controlling position or their exclusive trading status to harm the interests of consumers.
Article 9 Business operators must not exploit any data or algorithms, technology, capital advantages or platform rules or otherwise to engage in any monopolistic conduct prohibited by this Law.
Article 10 Administrative agencies and other organizations authorized by laws or regulations to perform the function of administrating public affairs must not abuse their administrative powers to exclude or limit competition.
Article 11 The State shall improve the anti-monopoly rules and regime, step up anti-monopoly regulatory strength, improve regulatory capabilities and the level of modernization of the regulatory system, enhance anti-monopoly law enforcement and justice administration, adjudicate monopoly cases by law and in a fair and efficient manner, improve the mechanism that links administrative law enforcement to justice administration, and maintain the order of fair competition.
12. The State Council shall establish an anti-monopoly commission to take charge of organizing, coordinating, and guiding anti-monopoly efforts and to perform the following duties:
(1) studying and drafting competition-related policies;
(2) organizing investigations and assessments of the overall status of competition in the market and publishing relevant reports;
(3) formulating and releasing anti-monopoly guidelines;
(4) coordinating anti-monopoly administrative law enforcement activities; and
(5) other duties as required by the State Council.
The composition and rules of procedure of the anti-monopoly commission shall be determined by the State Council.
Article 13 The State Council's anti-monopoly law enforcement authority (hereinafter referred to as the "State Council's AML enforcement authority") shall be in charge of centralized anti-monopoly law enforcement.
The State Council's AML enforcement authority may delegate as needed, a corresponding authority of the people's government of a provinces, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government to be responsible for relevant anti-monopoly law enforcement activities in accordance with this Law.
Article 14 Trade associations shall enhance their self-regulation, guide the business operators of their respective trades to engage in lawful competition and compliance business operations, and maintain the good order of market competition.
Article 15 For the purposes of this Law, "business operator" refers to a natural person, legal person, or unincorporated organization which produces or sells products or provides services.
For the purposes of this Law, "relevant market" refers to the range of products and the territorial scope in which business operators compete with each other to provide a particular product or service (hereinafter referred to as a "product") during a certain period of time.
Chapter II Monopoly Agreements
Article16 For the purposes of this Law, "monopoly agreements" refer to any agreement, decision, or other concerted action to exclude or limit competition.
Article 17 The following monopoly agreements between business operators who are in competition with each other are prohibited:
(1) those on fixing or changing the prices of a product;
(2) those on limiting the production or sales volume of a product;
(3) those on dividing a sales market or the market from which raw materials are purchased;
(4) those on restricting the purchase of new technology or new equipment or preventing the development thereof; and
(5) those on boycotting trading; and
(6) other monopoly agreements as determined by the State Council's AML enforcement authority.
Article 18 The following monopoly agreements between a business operator and a transaction counterparty are prohibited:
(1) those on fixing the price for resale of a product to a third party;
(2) those on restricting the minimum price for resale of a product to a third party; and
(3) other monopoly agreements as determined by the State Council's AML enforcement authority.
An agreement as specified in sub-paragraph 1 or 2 of the preceding paragraph will not be prohibited if the business operator can prove that it does not have the effect of excluding or limiting competition.
Said agreement will not be prohibited if the business operator can prove that their market share in the relevant market is lower than the threshold set by the State Council's AML enforcement authority and other conditions set by the State Council's AML enforcement authority are also met.
Article 19 A business operator must not organize other business operators to enter into a monopoly agreement or provide substantive assistance to another business operator in entering into a monopoly agreement.
Article 20 Article 17, the first paragraph of Article 18, or 19 hereof shall not be applicable if business operators can prove that the agreements are concluded for:
(1) improving technology, or engaging in the research and development of a new product;
(2) improving product quality, lowering cost, increasing efficiency, unifying product specifications or standards, or implementing a specialized division of labor;
(3) improving the operation efficiency and competitiveness of small and medium-sized business operators;
(4) realizing public interests such as energy conservation, environmental protection, and rescue and relief efforts;
(5) alleviating a sharp decrease in sales or significant overproduction due to an economic downturn;
(6) protecting legitimate interests during foreign trade or foreign economic cooperation; or
(7) other circumstances as specified by laws or the State Council.
Where Article 17, the first paragraph of Article 18, or Article 19 hereof does not apply when any of the circumstances under subparagraphs (1) through (5) of the preceding paragraph occurs, the business operators shall also prove that the agreement concluded does not gravely limit competition in the relevant market and can enable consumers to share the benefits therefrom.
Article 21 Trade associations must not make arrangements for business operators within their respective trades to engage in any monopolistic conduct prohibited in this Chapter.
Chapter III Abuse of Dominant Market Position
Article 22 A business operator who holds a dominant market position shall be prohibited from engaging in the following conduct by abusing its dominant market position:
(1) selling a product at an unfairly high price or buying a product at an unfairly low price;
(2) selling a product at a price below cost without legitimate reasons;
(3) refusing to transact with a counterparty without legitimate reasons;
(4) restricting a counterparty to dealings only with it or with any business operator designated by it without legitimate reasons;
(5) engaging in tying without legitimate reasons, or imposing other unreasonable transaction terms on a transaction;
(6) applying different treatment in terms of transaction price or other transaction terms to counterparties with equal standing without legitimate reasons; and
(7) any other conduct as identified by the State Council's AML enforcement authority to be an abuse of dominant market position.
A business operator with a dominant market position must not exploit any data or algorithms, technology or platform rules or otherwise to engage in the abuse of a dominant market position described in the preceding paragraph.
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