"Rice noodles" can be described as the "favorite" of all Yunnan people
Should rice noodle manufacturers implement horizontal monopolies?
This agreement case about "rice noodle production" has been decided!
recently
Issued by the Supreme People's Court
8 typical cases of anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition
One of them is a typical anti-monopoly case
It's what happened in our city
"Horizontal Monopoly Agreement of Rice Noodle Manufacturer"
There are a total of 8 rice noodle producers
More than 30 rice noodle middlemen
More than 300 rice noodle stalls were involved
Basic facts of the case
Yunnan Yi Rundian Rice Noodles Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yi Rundian Company), a rice noodle manufacturer, sued and claimed that Yunnan Run's Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Run's company) and Kunming Lin Qiugu Food Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lin's Qiugu Company) and other seven accused monopoly actors reached and implemented a horizontal monopoly agreement of fixing commodity prices and boycotting transactions, resulting in business difficulties for Yi Rundian Company, and finally stopped the production and processing of rice noodles, and requested compensation of 5 million yuan for economic losses. Reasonable expenses of 200,000 yuan. The court of first instance held that the accused monopoly actor reached but did not implement a horizontal monopoly agreement to fix commodity prices and failed to reach a joint boycott agreement, and ordered to jointly and severally pay Yi a reasonable expenditure of 20,000 yuan for Rundian Company, and rejected other litigation claims. Yi Rundian Company was dissatisfied and appealed.
The Supreme People's Court held in the second instance that the rice noodle factories such as Run and Lin Qiugu Company determined the unified purchase price of rice noodles purchased by Run from the rice noodle factory by signing a purchase and sale contract, and the seven accused monopolistic actors, including Run and Lin, Qiugu Company, respectively fixed the retail price and supply price of rice noodles sold by the rice noodle factory to the rice noodle stalls and intermediaries through the resolution of the shareholders' meeting of the company, the price adjustment notice, etc., and reached and implemented a horizontal monopoly agreement to fix the price of rice noodles. Seven accused monopolistic actors, including Run's company and Lin's Qiugu Company, also reached a cooperation agreement with the middleman and the rice noodle stall in the name of Run's company, and reached a supply agreement with the rice noodle stall, requiring the middleman and the rice noodle stall to only deliver or sell the rice noodles produced by the agreed manufacturer, and if the requirements were violated, they must pay 50,000 yuan in liquidated damages to the Run, and at the same time, the agreement manufacturer will jointly cut off the supply of the middleman and the rice noodle stall. The above-mentioned purchase and sale contract also stipulates that Lin Qiugu Company and other rice noodle factories shall not sell to third parties other than Run Company except for their own business, and require that the rice noodle factory that signed the purchase and sale contract shall not accept the middleman to purchase rice noodle from the factory, otherwise a fine of 2-50,000 yuan will be imposed. The seven accused monopolistic actors, including Run and Lin, also adopted measures such as signing a letter of guarantee and setting up a special working group, and supervised each other to ensure the implementation of the joint boycott agreement by setting up corresponding reward and punishment mechanisms. As a result of the above-mentioned acts, the rice noodle factories, middlemen, and retail stalls in the agreement cooperated with each other and consolidated layer by layer, excluding the rice noodle factories outside the agreement manufacturers from entering the local rice noodle sales market, and in the process of implementation, they focused on crowding out and suppressing Yi Rundian Company, implementing a horizontal monopoly agreement of joint resistance and eliminating and restricting market competition.
The Supreme People's Court comprehensively considered factors such as the degree of subjective malice of the accused monopoly, the duration of the alleged monopolistic act, and the impact on Yi Rundian Company, and finally made a judgment: revoke the first-instance judgment; The judgment was changed to compensate Yi and Rundian Company for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 1.1 million yuan, and Lin Qiugu Company and other 7 accused monopoly actors were jointly and severally liable for the compensation obligations assumed by Run.
Typical significance
This case is a horizontal monopoly agreement that fixes commodity prices and boycotts transactions. Through a detailed analysis of the alleged monopolistic acts, the adjudication of this case clarified the horizontal and vertical staggered contractual measures adopted by several competing undertakings when they jointly boycotted other competing undertakings, and found that the boycott transactions involved in the case constituted a horizontal monopoly agreement.
Rice noodles are a consumer product loved by the local people in Yunnan, and the judgment in this case demonstrates the spirit of anti-monopoly rule of law by handling the "key small things" related to the vital interests of the masses, and has positive significance for regulating monopolistic behavior in the field of people's livelihood.
Citizen: "The price hasn't changed, we eat it often." If there is a monopoly, the cost of living will increase for ordinary people. ”
Citizen: "I've seen reports that monopoly shouldn't be, the market should be open, fair competition, monopoly is wrong." If the monopoly harms the interests of consumers after the monopoly, the monopoly will rise in price, but it is still necessary to compete fairly and diversify the market. ”
What do you think about this?
Source: 8099999 Streets and Alleys
Part of the source: Supreme People's Court, CCTV News
Editor: Li Tong
Editor: Li Jing
Final review: Zhao Wen