The New Anti-Monopoly Law In China

After over 13 years of drafting, the long awaited Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China ("PRC") ("Anti-Monopoly Law") was finally promulgated by the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on 30 August 2007. The Anti-Monopoly Law will come into effect on 1 August 2008 and aims to provide a comprehensive framework for regulating market competition in the PRC. The new Law is expected to have a more significant impact on foreign investments than the 12 existing PRC laws and regulations on anti-trust provisions and anti-competitive conduct.

As a result of the new Law, foreign mergers and acquisitions of domestic companies or foreign capital investing in domestic companies' operations through other forms in the PRC will now have to overcome anti-monopoly checks in addition to the already existing approvals through the Ministry of Commerce.