ISSUING AUTHORITY:

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

DATE OF ISSUANCE:

June 24, 2022

EFFECTIVE DATE:

August 1, 2022

On June 24, 2022, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress issued the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Revising the Anti-monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (“Decision on Revising the Anti-monopoly Law”). The main revisions are as followings:

1. Article 9 is appended with the following : "Undertakings shall not use, among others, data, algorithms, technologies, capital advantages and platform rules to engage in any monopolistic practice prohibited by this Law."

2. Article 11 is appended with the following : "The State improves upon anti-monopoly rules and systems, strengthens anti-monopoly regulatory forces, increases regulatory capacity and modernization of the regulatory system, enhance anti-monopoly law enforcement judicature, hears monopoly cases in a lawful, impartial and efficient manner, perfect the mechanism for connection between administrative law enforcement and judicature, and maintains the fair competition order."

3. Article 19 is appended with the following : "Any undertaking shall not organize other undertakings to reach a monopoly agreement or provide substantive assistance for other undertakings to reach a monopoly agreement."

4. Article 21 is renumbered as Article 26, and two new paragraphs are added thereto as the second and the third paragraph, which state "Where a concentration of undertakings does not satisfy the threshold for declaration as stipulated by the State Council, but there is evidence proving that the concentration has effect of excluding or restricting competition, the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency of the State Council may require the undertakings to make a declaration.

5. Article 32 is appended with the following : "Under any of the following circumstances, the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency of the State Council may decide to suspend calculation of the time limit for the review of a concentration of undertakings, and notify the undertakings concerned in writing:

(1) where the undertakings concerned fail to submit documents and materials in accordance with the relevant provisions, thereby rendering the review impossible;

(2) new circumstances or facts occur that have a material impact on the review of the concentration of undertakings and will result in the failure to carry out the review without verification; and

(3) where it is necessary to further assess the restrictive conditions attached to the concentration of undertakings and the undertakings make a request for suspension.

"Calculation of the review period shall continue from the date on which the cause of suspension of calculation is eliminated. The Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency of the State Council shall notify the undertakings concerned in writing."

6. Article 46 is renumbered as Article 56, and Paragraph 1 thereof is revised as follows: "With regard to any undertaking in violation of the provisions of this Law in entering into and implementing a monopoly agreement, the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency shall order it to cease the illegal act, confiscate its illegal gains, and impose a fine ranging from 1% to 10% of the sales amount of the preceding year against it; where there is no sales amount in the preceding year, a fine of no more than 5 million yuan shall be imposed against it; where the monopoly agreement has not been implemented yet, a fine of no more than 3 million yuan may be imposed against it. Where the legal representative, de facto general manager and directly liable personnel of the undertaking are personally accountable for conclusion of the monopoly agreement, a fine of no more than 1 million yuan may be imposed against them. "

One paragraph is added as Paragraph 2, which states: "Where an undertaking organizes other undertakings to enter into a monopoly agreement or provides substantive assistance for other undertakings to conclude a monopoly agreement, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply."

Paragraph 3 is renumbered as Paragraph 4 and whilst it previously stated "the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency may impose a fine of no more than 500,000 yuan" it shall now be revised to read as follows "the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency shall order it to make correction and may impose a fine of no more than 3 million yuan against it".

7. Article 48 is renumbered as Article 58 and revised as follows: "Where an undertaking implements concentration in violation of the provisions of this Law, which has or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition, the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency of the State Council shall order it to stop implementing the concentration, dispose of shares or assets within a stipulated period, transfer business within a stipulated period and adopt other necessary measures against the undertaking to restore to the pre-concentration state, and impose a fine of no more than 10% of the sales amount of the preceding year against the undertaking; where the concentration has no effect of eliminating or restricting competition, a fine of no more than 5 million yuan shall be imposed against the undertaking."

8. Article 52 is renumbered as Article 62, revised as follows: "an organization shall be subject to a fine of no more than 1% of the sales amount of the preceding year; where there is no sales amount in the preceding year or it is difficult to compute the sales amount, a fine of no more than 5 million yuan shall be imposed against it; and an individual shall be subject to a fine of no more than 500,000 yuan."

9. Article 67 is added as follows: "For violations of the provisions of this Law which constitute a criminal offence, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law."

The Decision on Revising the Anti-monopoly Law shall become effective on August 1, 2022.

Reference:

全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于修改 《中华人民共和国反垄断法》的决定