Strong regulatory signals continue The anti-monopoly sword in many fields is hanging high

The Anti-Monopoly Law (Draft Amendment) was officially promulgated and solicited opinions from the public; the State Anti-Monopoly Administration was established; and the regulatory authorities frequently issued anti-monopoly "top grid" fines... 2021 is the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the "big year" of anti-monopoly work, with anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition playing a continuous role, effectively maintaining the order of fair competition in the market.

The Central Economic Work Conference stressed that it is necessary to boost the confidence of market players, further promote the implementation of fair competition policies, strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition, and ensure fair competition with fair supervision. It is necessary to set up "traffic lights" for capital, strengthen effective supervision of capital according to law, and prevent the barbaric growth of capital. Industry experts said that in 2022, the strong regulatory signal continues, the anti-monopoly regulatory framework is expected to be more perfect, the anti-monopoly sword in key areas such as platform economy, scientific and technological innovation, information security, and people's livelihood security is hanging high, and regulatory law enforcement will be further strengthened, creating a better competitive environment for all kinds of market entities to invest in business and regulate healthy development.

The anti-monopoly "big year" has achieved remarkable results

On December 7, the Beijing Anti-Monopoly Compliance Guidelines for the Platform Economy (2021 Edition) were officially released. It responds positively to the business formats and competitive behaviors in the Internet field such as "two choices one" and "big data killing". This is the epitome of China's improvement of the fair competition system.

The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan emphasizes strengthening the basic position of competition policy, and "anti-monopoly" has become a high-frequency word. The National Anti-Monopoly Work Conference on the Market Supervision System stressed that 2021 is the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the "big year" of anti-monopoly work.

This year, the central government frequently released signals to strengthen anti-monopoly: the ninth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission emphasized "promoting the healthy and sustainable development of platform economy norms" and "promoting fair competition, opposing monopoly, and preventing disorderly expansion of capital"; the 34th collective study of the Politburo of the Central Committee emphasized "preventing platform monopoly and capital disorderly expansion, and investigating and punishing monopoly and unfair competition according to law"; the 21st meeting of the Central Committee for Deep Reform deliberated and adopted the "Opinions on Strengthening Anti-Monopoly and Deeply Promoting the Implementation of Fair Competition Policies"...

This year, a huge breakthrough was made in the construction of the anti-monopoly system and mechanism. On November 18, the State Anti-Monopoly Administration was officially established to further enrich the anti-monopoly regulatory force, enhance the unity and authority of anti-monopoly law enforcement, and usher in a new pattern of anti-monopoly supervision. On November 22, the Anti-Monopoly Law (Draft Amendment) ended soliciting comments. This is the first "overhaul" of the anti-monopoly law that has been in force for 13 years, and while encouraging innovation and strengthening the foundation of competition policy, it also responds to the new challenges posed by the development of the digital economy.

"In 2021, China's competition policy and anti-monopoly achieved results in top-level design, system construction, institutional mechanisms and other aspects, which is an extraordinary year in the historical process of China's competition policy and anti-monopoly law." Huang Yong, a member of the Expert Advisory Group of the Anti-Monopoly Commission of the State Council and director of the Competition Law Center of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Economic Information Daily reporter. He believes that with the strengthening of anti-monopoly law enforcement forces, it can be expected that anti-monopoly law enforcement will be more normalized and more professional in 2022, so as to better ensure fair competition in the market.

Regulatory enforcement has dropped the "heavy hammer"

Nanjing Ningwei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. abused its dominant market position, implemented the monopolistic behavior of selling chlorophosphorus phosphate apies at unfairly high prices, and attached unreasonable trading conditions, with fines and forfeitures of more than 6.58 million yuan; Yixingganghua Gas Co., Ltd. abused its market dominance, charged high heating and capacity increase fees to residential users, and charged unfairly high prices for gas pipeline installation projects of non-resident users, and was fined a total of 40.44 million yuan... On November 18, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued several administrative penalty decisions, pointing to the pharmaceutical field and the energy field.

On November 20, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) notified 43 cases of concentration of undertakings that had not been declared in accordance with the law, and in addition to a number of enterprises in the Internet field that had been fined, banking, insurance, and chemical companies also appeared on the penalty list.

In 2021, anti-monopoly has fallen into a "heavy hammer", and related penalty cases and penalty scales have risen sharply. According to statistics, as of November 20, the number of administrative punishment cases related to monopoly agreements, abuse of market dominance and concentration of undertakings has risen sharply to 110, much higher than the average of about 25 cases in the past five years; the scale of related administrative penalties has risen sharply to about 22.8 billion yuan, much higher than the average of about 400 million yuan in the past five years.

In addition to the platform economy, the field of people's livelihood is particularly concerned. Recently, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council formulated and issued anti-monopoly guidelines in the field of APIs, emphasizing the need to continue to increase law enforcement in the field of APIs. The Ministry of Transport and eight other departments issued opinions proposing to increase the supervision and enforcement of anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition. Prevent the disorderly expansion of capital in the field of new transportation formats, and strictly investigate and punish low-price dumping, "big data killing", induce fraud and other violations of laws and regulations in accordance with the law.

"In 2021, in addition to the introduction of a number of guidelines at the legislative level, there are also highlights at the law enforcement and judicial levels." Zhang Chenying, a member of the Expert Advisory Group of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council and director of the Competition Law Research Center of Tsinghua University Law School, told the Economic Information Daily that the enforcement of APIs, platform economy and monopolistic behaviors that should be declared has standardized the business behavior of enterprises. The publication of a number of typical cases has effectively protected the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers.

Create a better competitive environment

The Central Economic Work Conference continued to release anti-monopoly strong regulatory signals. In the industry's view, in 2022, a new anti-monopoly law is expected to be introduced, and anti-monopoly law enforcement in key areas will be further strengthened.

Zhang Chenying said that to further promote the implementation of the fair competition policy is from the perspective of the government, it is required to treat all competitors equally and fairly; to strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition, it is from the perspective of market rules, emphasizing the maintenance of a market environment and market rules for fair competition through legal means; and ensuring fair competition with fair supervision is from the perspective of regulatory means, making it clear that fair supervision is the guarantee for achieving fair competition.

"The purpose of setting up the 'traffic light' is to clearly demarcate the boundary between legal and illegal, in the perspective of the operator, the legal can be done, the illegal must be stopped; in the perspective of the regulator, to be supervised according to law, illegal business behavior must be prohibited." The 'law' here includes the Anti-Monopoly Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and so on. Zhang Chenying said.

Huang Yong believes that it is necessary to strengthen the basic position of competition policy, optimize the market-oriented and rule-of-law international business environment, and support and guide the healthy development of capital norms. Explore rule of law solutions for competition policies in key industries and subdivisions. On the one hand, we will promote the market-oriented reform of competitive links in energy, railway, telecommunications, public utilities and other industries; on the other hand, we will improve the institutional mechanisms for supervision, law enforcement, compliance, and competition culture cultivation in the field of digital economy.

Zhang Gong, director of the State Administration for Market Regulation, recently revealed that the next step will be to accelerate the revision of the Anti-Monopoly Law, revise the Anti-Unfair Competition Law in a timely manner, continue to improve supporting legislation, continuously improve the market access system, the fair competition review mechanism, the fair competition supervision system in the digital economy, and prevent and stop the abuse of administrative power to eliminate and restrict competition. Continue to standardize competition in key areas such as platform economy, scientific and technological innovation, information security, and people's livelihood guarantees, and strictly investigate and deal with monopoly agreements, abuse of market dominance, and other monopolistic behaviors in accordance with law.

"The new anti-monopoly law is expected to be introduced, which will play a more important role in maintaining the order of market competition and protecting the rights and interests of consumers." China has issued a series of rules in the fields of platforms, algorithms and data, and some rules are in the stage of consultation for comment. In addition, more obligations will be imposed on key enterprises with disorderly capital development next year. The number of major anti-monopoly cases focusing on key industries may further increase. Zhang Qinyu, director of the Institute of Economic Law of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Economic Information Daily reporter. (Ban Juanjuan)

Source: Economic Reference