Chinese Antitrust Authority Regulates No-Poach Agreement For The First Time

In late July 2023 Chinese antitrust authority (State Administration for Market Regulation, "SAMR") summoned four leading pig breeding enterprises in China for warning them of their "No-Poach Pact". Previously on 20 June 2023, Muyuan Food Co., Ltd., Wen's Foodstuff Group Co., Ltd., The Twins Group Co., Ltd., and Chia Tai Investment Co., Ltd publicly signed a "No-Poach Pact" in a conference. Such pact is essentially a no-poach agreement, a typical monopoly agreement in the human resources (HR) field along with wage-fixing agreements. This incident marks the first time that SAMR has taken action against a no-poach agreement. Although SAMR did not impose a fine, the warning as a "yellow card" has significant declarative implications and should be taken seriously by enterprises.