Anti-monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China

(npc.gov.cn) Updated : 2015-08-17

(Adopted at the 29th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress on August 30, 2007)

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Monopoly Agreements

Chapter III Abuse of Dominant Market Position

Chapter IV Concentration of Undertakings

Chapter V Abuse of Administrative Power to Eliminate or Restrict Competition

Chapter VI Investigation into Suspected Monopolistic Conducts

Chapter VII Legal Liabilities

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purpose of preventing and restraining monopolistic conducts, protecting fair market competition, enhancing economic efficiency, safeguarding the interests of consumers and the interests of the society as a whole, and promoting the healthy development of socialist market economy.

Article 2 This Law is applicable to monopolistic conducts in economic activities within the territory of the People’s Republic of China; and it is applicable to monopolistic conducts outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China, which serve to eliminate or restrict competition on the domestic market of China.

Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, monopolistic conducts include:

(1) monopoly agreements reached between undertakings ;

(2) abuse of dominant market position by undertakings; and

(3) concentration of undertakings that lead, or may lead to elimination or restriction of competition.

Article 4 The State shall formulate and implement competition rules which are compatible with the socialist market economy, in order to improve macro-economic regulation and build up a sound market network which operates in an integrated, open, competitive and orderly manner.

Article 5 Undertakings may, through fair competition and voluntary association, get themselves concentrated according to law, to expand the scale of their business operations and enhance their competitiveness on the market.

Article 6 Undertakings holding a dominant position on the market may not abuse such position to eliminate or restrict competition.

Article 7 With respect to the industries which are under the control of by the State-owned economic sector and have a bearing on the lifeline of the national economy or national security and the industries which exercise monopoly over the production and sale of certain commodities according to law, the State shall protect the lawful business operations of undertakings in these industries, and shall, in accordance with law, supervise and regulate their business operations and the prices of the commodities and services provided by them, in order to protect the consumers’ interests and facilitate technological advance.

The undertakings mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall do business according to law, be honest, faithful and strictly self-disciplined, and subject themselves to public supervision, and they shall not harm the consumers’ interests by taking advantage of their position of control or their monopolistic production and sale of certain commodities.

Article 8 Administrative departments or organizations authorized by laws or regulations to perform the function of administering public affairs may not abuse their administrative power to eliminate or restrict competition.

Article 9 The State Council shall establish an anti-monopoly commission to be in charge of organizing, coordinating and guiding anti-monopoly work and to perform the following duties:

(1) studying and drafting policies on competition;

(2)organizing investigation and assessment of competition on the market as a whole and publishing assessment reports;

(3) formulating and releasing anti-monopoly guidelines;

(4) coordinating administrative enforcement of the Anti-Monopoly Law; and

(5) other duties as prescribed by the State Council.

The composition of and procedural rules for the anti-monopoly commission shall be specified by the State Council.

Article 10 The authorities responsible for enforcement of the Anti-monopoly Law specified by the State Council (hereinafter referred to, in general, as the authority for enforcement of the Anti-monopoly Law under the State Council) shall be in charge of such enforcement in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

The authority for enforcement of the Anti-monopoly Law under the State Council may, in light of the need of work, empower the appropriate departments of the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the Central Government to take charge of relevant enforcement of the Anti-monopoly Law in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Article 11 Trade associations shall tighten their self-discipline, give guidance to the undertakings in their respective trades in lawful competition, and maintain the market order in competition.

Article 12 For the purposes of this Law, undertakings include natural persons, legal persons, and other organizations that engage in manufacturing, or selling commodities or providing services.

For the purposes of this Law, a relevant market consists of the range of the commodities for which, and the regions where, undertakings compete each other during a given period of time for specific commodities or services (hereinafter referred to, in general, as “commodities”).

Chapter II Monopoly Agreements

Article 13 Competing undertakings are prohibited from concluding the following monopoly agreements:

(1) on fixing or changing commodity prices;

(2)on restricting the amount of commodities manufactured or marketed;

(3)on splitting the sales market or the purchasing market for raw and semi-finished materials;

(4)on restricting the purchase of new technologies or equipment, or the development of new technologies or products;

(5) on joint boycotting of transactions; and

(6)other monopoly agreements confirmed as such by the authority for enforcement of the Anti-monopoly Law under the State Council.

For the purposes of this Law, monopoly agreements include agreements, decisions and other concerted conducts designed to eliminate or restrict competition.

Article 14 Undertakings are prohibited from concluding the following monopoly agreements with their trading counterparts:

(1) on fixing the prices of commodities resold to a third party;

(2) on restricting the lowest prices for commodities resold to a third party; and

(3)other monopoly agreements confirmed as such by the authority for enforcement of the Anti-monopoly Law under the State Council.

Article 15 The provisions of Article 13 and 14 of this Law shall not be applicable to the agreements between undertakings which they can prove to be concluded for one of the following purposes:

(1) improving technologies, or engaging in research and development of new products; or

(2) improving product quality, reducing cost, and enhancing efficiency, unifying specifications and standards of products, or implementing specialized division of production;

(3) increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of small and medium-sized undertakings;

(4) serving public interests in energy conservation, environmental protection and disaster relief;

(5) mitigating sharp decrease in sales volumes or obvious overproduction caused by economic depression;

(6) safeguarding legitimate interests in foreign trade and in economic cooperation with foreign counterparts; or

(7) other purposes as prescribed by law or the State Council.

In the cases as specified in Subparagraphs (1) through (5) of the preceding paragraph, where the provisions of Articles 13 and 14 of this Law are not applicable, the undertakings shall, in addition, prove that the agreements reached will not substantially restrict competition in the relevant market and that they can enable the consumers to share the benefits derived therefrom.

Article 16 Trade associations may not make arrangements for undertakings within their respective trades to engage in the monopolistic practices prohibited by the provisions of this Chapter.

|<< Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page >>|