Cartel Leniency Guidelines: A Practical Interpretation From Lawyers' Perspective

In August 2020, China's antitrust authority, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR"), made public the Guidelines on the Application of Leniency Mechanism in Horizontal Monopoly Agreement Cases ("Leniency Guidelines") by publishing its new book on antitrust regulations and guidelines. The Leniency Guidelines was authored by China's AntiMonopoly Committee of the State Council ("AMC"), and was published internally among antitrust authorities on 4 January 2019. The Leniency Guidelines significantly increases the transparency and predictability of cartel leniency mechanism in China, and thus companies need to update their antitrust compliance manuals accordingly.

I. Drafting Background