European Commission And China Sign Memorandum Of Understanding On Antitrust Cooperation

On 20 September 2012, the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition and China's National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") and State Administration for Industry and Commerce ("SAIC") signed a Memorandum of Understanding to increase their cooperation and coordination on antitrust matters between the EU and China.¹ The MOU provides a framework for cooperation and coordination relating to "legislation, enforcement and technical cooperation regarding cartels, and other restrictive agreements and the abuse of dominant market positions."²

The MOU is indeed an important additional step, following years of dialogue between the jurisdictions under the 2004 Competition Policy Dialogue between the European Commission and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM").³ (China's Antimonopoly Law delegates competition enforcement authority across these three agencies: MOFCOM is tasked with merger enforcement; the NDRC with enforcement of price-related