Combination Of China's Three Antitrust Enforcement Agencies May Bring More Aggressive Enforcement Over Long Run

Ten years after the introduction of China's Anti-Monopoly Law, the functions and duties of the three agencies originally charged with enforcing the law's provisions are now unified under the direction of the newly formed State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR"). Consolidating of the enforcement activities of the three separate agencies is likely to have significant impact on the country's antimonopoly efforts.

This Jones Day White Paper provides background information on China's antimonopoly actions and describes the possible implications of the new enforcement landscape under SAMR.

China recently combined its three separate antimonopoly enforcement agencies into one new agency as part of a broader set of institutional reforms of the central government of China. The State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") was established under an Institutional Reform Plan of the State Council, which was approved in March 2018. A new agency