Looking Back And Looking Forward After Three Years Of Antitrust Enforcement In China

China's antimonopoly law ("AML") came into effect in August 2008, after more than a decade of consideration. Even if China's antitrust regime is still in its infancy, it is increasingly a significant concern for Western companies, particularly given the lack of transparency surrounding the antitrust agencies and the resulting unpredictability.

On the merger review side, China rapidly has become a significant regulatory obstacle for both Chinese and global M&A transactions. Relatively low turnover thresholds require many transactions to be filed in China, even if there is little connection to China, and the increasingly long timeframe to obtain approval has delayed closing numerous cross-border deals. The introduction of a national security review system for the acquisition of domestic companies or assets may add yet another layer of difficulty.