Civil Actions Under China’s Anti-Monopoly Law - Five Major Cases, Five Major Lessons

Article by Hannah C. L. Ha , John M. Hickin and Gerry P. O'Brien

Originally published 8 February 2010

Keywords: China, Anti-Monopoly Law, AML, civil action, merger control, Ministry of Commerce, Mofcom

China's Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) has been in effect for over 18 months, and to date most headlines generated by the law relate to merger control decisions by China's Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom). Outside of Mofcom's reviews, enforcement of the law has been relatively limited. The regulatory bodies charged with enforcing the law's 'conduct rules' (rules governing day to day trading behaviour) appear reluctant to initiate cases before key measures explaining how the rules will be applied in practice are finalised, and until recently it seemed China's courts were similarly hesitant to progress the hearing of AML-related civil actions.