Huang Yong: my country’s antitrust w88 casino enforcement has become normalized and routine
(Source: "Economic Daily"2014-9-24 Reporter Gu Yang)
The current antitrust cause in China shows the following five characteristics: first, antitrust w88 casino enforcement has entered a new normal; secondly, the public is paying more attention to industry monopoly and administrative monopoly issues; thirdly, antitrust cases are more difficult and complex, involving more frontier fields; fourthly, judicial trials and administrative w88 casino enforcement are developing in parallel; fifthly, my country, the European Union and the United States jointly constitute the world's three major antitrust jurisdictions.
Recently, my country's anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement has been continuously strengthened. Some foreign-funded enterprises and imported brands have been frequently investigated. Questions such as "China's selective anti-monopoly enforcement" and "unfair anti-monopoly investigations" have also been raised from time to time. Why is there a sudden increase in antitrust enforcement in China? What characteristics does it exhibit? Where will antitrust go in the future?
For this reason, a reporter from "Economic Daily" interviewedProfessor Huang Yong, Deputy Leader of the Expert Advisory Group of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council and Director of the Competition Law Center of the w88 casino。Huang YongWe believe that the implementation of the anti-monopoly system is a common practice in market economy countries or regions. It neither targets specific enterprises nor selective enforcement. The fundamental purpose of antitrust is to further maintain the market order of fair competition. In the future, China’s anti-monopoly journey will go deeper.
Q: Although the heads of the national anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement agencies have made it clear that there is no "selective enforcement" of anti-monopoly, public opinion still has different opinions. What do you think of the current anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement in my country?
Answer: The Anti-Monopoly w88 casino is a product of the market economy. Although it is a domestic w88 casino, the anti-monopoly laws of various countries are similar in structure, content and legislative purpose. Of course, due to the different development stages and domestic characteristics of each country, antitrust laws themselves will also show some differences. This determines that there may be differences caused by different laws in the antitrust enforcement process, and communication and understanding need to be enhanced.
It needs to be emphasized that the anti-monopoly system is significantly different from the foreign investment, foreign w88 and national security review systems in terms of regulatory objects, legal basis, competent authorities and procedures. Anti-monopoly focuses on behaviors that exclude and restrict competition, and there are no differences between entities.
According to common practice, the same business transaction will sometimes be reviewed separately by two or more w88 casino enforcement agencies in accordance with their respective regulations and make independent decisions. They will all affect the final transaction. For example, Chinalco's acquisition of Rio Tinto of Australia was approved by the Competition and Consumer Commission, but due to legal review by the Foreign Investment Review Board, Rio Tinto withdrew the transaction, resulting in the failure of the merger. After decades of development, my country's foreign investment policies and laws have become more and more perfect, and the national security review system has gradually taken shape. Article 31 of the Anti-Monopoly w88 casino has clearly stipulated that national security and concentration of undertakings should be reviewed separately. In practice, the relevant competent authorities also perform their respective duties and there is no overlap. To examine whether the anti-monopoly w88 casino causes discrimination against foreign investors, we should first clarify the levels of the system.
Looking at the general trend, my country’s general policy of adhering to domestic reform and opening up to the outside world will remain unwavering in the long term. Today, the world's major economies are highly interdependent. Openness, cooperation, and win-win are the main themes of the world economy. It is also the original intention of the w88 casino to apply antitrust laws equally to state-owned, private, and foreign-invested enterprises. Of course, as the Anti-Monopoly w88 casino is a new w88 casino, from the perspective of system operation, there is bound to be a running-in period between w88 casino enforcement and compliance. Shortening the running-in time and reducing the running-in cost requires us to further strengthen capacity building and promote competitive culture.
Q: Could you please introduce the new features of my country’s current antitrust w88 casino enforcement?
Answer: Implementation of the Anti-Monopoly w88 casino6In the past few years, China has made remarkable achievements in improving the anti-monopoly system, building the capacity of w88 casino enforcement agencies, and promoting competition culture. Compared with the beginning of the promulgation and implementation of the w88 casino, China’s current antitrust industry shows the following five characteristics:
First, antitrust w88 casino enforcement has entered a new normal. With the accumulation of my country’s anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement experience and the improvement of understanding of anti-monopoly w88 casino,3The number of cases handled by this antitrust w88 casino enforcement agency is increasing rapidly and its influence is expanding day by day. Up to now, the Ministry of Commerce has accepted the application900Multiple declarations of concentration of business operators, including24Approved with conditions,2Item is prohibited. The National Development and Reform Commission investigated the high-profile China Unicom, Telecom and Qualcomm cases, and investigated the Moutai and Wuliangye cases,12A Japanese company’s auto parts case, Shanghai gold price case and foreign milk powder case, etc. The State Administration for Industry and Commerce’s “Anti-Monopoly Case Publication Platform” announced in detail16Penalty decisions for monopoly cases that have been concluded. With the increase in various types of cases, antitrust w88 casino enforcement has begun to enter a stage of normalization and routineization.
Second, the public is more concerned about industry monopoly and administrative monopoly. With the deepening of reform, public concern about monopoly issues and administrative monopoly in the petroleum, telecommunications, electric power and other industries during economic transformation continues to increase. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the discriminatory transportation fee regulations in Hebei Province, which triggered a positive response from society. In the past, the government was more accustomed to managing administrative monopolies through documents and regulations, but the effect was not obvious. Now, the Anti-Monopoly w88 casino should also be used to break administrative monopoly.
Third, antitrust cases are more complex and involve more frontier areas. In addition to w88 casino enforcement in traditional industries such as fast-moving goods and manufacturing, as well as horizontal and vertical monopoly agreements, antitrust investigation cases have also begun to involve high-tech innovative industries. The judgment and application of the illegality of patent licenses, standard essential patents, and bilateral markets are more complex. For mature foreign antitrust w88 casino enforcement agencies, these cases are also cutting-edge cases. For example, the U.S. and EU antitrust w88 casino enforcement agencies’ investigation of Google’s suspected monopoly case requires strong professionalism and the investigation process lasts a long time. Such cases not only involve complex industry technologies and legal regulations, but also require rigorous economic analysis, which requires high professional capabilities. It can be seen that our country's w88 casino enforcement agencies have begun to absorb professional opinions and suggestions from all aspects and actively meet challenges.
Fourth, judicial trials and administrative w88 casino enforcement develop in parallel. While anti-monopoly administrative enforcement is normalized, the courts have also vigorously promoted the establishment of anti-monopoly rules through the trial of anti-monopoly civil lawsuits. For example, the Supreme Court case of Qihu360Monopoly case against Tencent, Huawei lawsuit heard by Guangdong High CourtIDCThe patent standard monopoly case and the Ribbon v. Johnson & Johnson vertical monopoly agreement case heard by the Shanghai High Court have attracted widespread attention. The trial of these cases has expanded the space for mutual learning between judicial and administrative w88 casino enforcement on similar cases.
Fifth, my country, the European Union and the United States together constitute the world's three major antitrust jurisdictions. This is closely related to global economic integration and the rise of my country's economic status. In fact, the antitrust laws of various countries are similar in terms of legislative purpose, content, and structure, and they all focus on the domestic market competition order. However, the antitrust w88 casino enforcement agencies of different countries may make different final decisions on the same cross-border transaction. For example, when Microsoft acquired Nokia, the United States and the European Union approved the merger, and China made a conditional approval decision based on domestic competition. Of course, from the perspective of improving the level of w88 casino enforcement, it is very necessary to strengthen professional exchanges between antitrust w88 casino enforcement agencies in various countries.
Q: What is the relationship between antitrust enforcement and consumer welfare?
Answer: The Anti-Monopoly w88 casino promotes competition in the domestic market by regulating behaviors that eliminate and restrict competition, thereby increasing product output, lowering product prices, and ultimately generally improving consumer welfare. In contrast, the Consumer Rights Protection w88 casino directly promotes the welfare of consumers by giving them specific and direct rights, such as the right to know, the right to freely choose, the right to claim, etc.
Practice has proved that in any field with full competition, such as the home appliance industry, consumers generally feel that the price of goods is relatively reasonable and the quality is high; as long as it is an industry controlled by the government, partially controlled or even "monopolized", there are industry access and price controls, consumers feel that the price of goods is high and the quality is relatively low, and dissatisfaction is very common. With the continuous deepening of reforms in these industries, the gradual introduction of competition mechanisms and the full use of anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement, it is believed that the overall welfare of consumers will continue to improve.
Q: The head of the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission stated at a press conference of the State Council Information Office that in accordance with the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the focus of anti-monopoly investigations will shift in the next stage. Abuse of administrative power, elimination of competition and local protectionism will be the focus of investigations. How do you view the current administrative monopoly?
Answer: There are various types of administrative monopoly. In the economic fields related to administrative power, there are many suspected "administrative monopolies". my country's Anti-Monopoly w88 casino has a dedicated Chapter 5 to regulate it, covering almost all types of abuse of administrative power to eliminate or restrict competition. In addition, the w88 casino stipulates for the first time that those responsible for the implementation of administrative monopoly must bear legal responsibility, and gives anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement agencies the power to investigate, characterize and make recommendations on administrative monopoly.
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to make the market play a decisive role in resource allocation, properly handle the relationship between the government and the market, and further eliminate various forms of administrative monopoly. The recently issued State Council2018301_18437
It needs to be pointed out that the Anti-Monopoly w88 casino is not omnipotent, and joint efforts are needed to break administrative monopoly. In the current period of economic transformation, comprehensive institutional reforms including fiscal and taxation system reform and personnel reform need to be carried out simultaneously to form an effective synergy and clear the institutional soil and institutional space of administrative monopoly.
Q: How should we proceed steadily and successfully on the road to antitrust in the future?
Answer: First of all, we must improve the anti-monopoly legal system. my country’s Anti-Monopoly w88 casino only has eight chapters57Article 19704_19843| cannot exhaust the problems in reality, and the lack of regulations and insufficient regulatory methods have led to great uncertainty and greater discretion in the application of the w88 casino by w88 casino enforcement agencies. With the accumulation of practical experience and case issues, the National People's Congress needs to interpret the w88 casino, the State Council and w88 casino enforcement agencies need to issue more operational regulations and guidelines, and the courts also need to issue judicial interpretations on difficult issues in a timely manner to further improve the antitrust legal system.
Secondly, we must improve the professionalism of w88 casino enforcement and ensure the procedural nature of w88 casino enforcement. In accordance with the requirements of administration according to w88 casino, professional analysis and transparency in w88 casino enforcement are essential. Penalty decisions from foreign antitrust w88 casino enforcement agencies usually disclose in detail the facts of the case, investigation process, application of w88 casino, judgment standards and other information. In addition, ensuring that w88 casino enforcement procedures are legal and proper and focusing on protecting the defense, appeal and other legal rights of enterprises involved in the case are the proper meaning and yardstick of procedural justice.
Third, maintain the authority of w88 casino enforcement agencies. Authoritativeness is the cornerstone for the implementation of decisions by governments and their departments. At present, our country3The administrative levels of domestic w88 casino enforcement agencies are relatively low (all are at the bureau level), and they often face pressure from multiple parties in w88 casino enforcement, which is not conducive to the establishment of the authority of w88 casino enforcement agencies. It is necessary to reform the anti-monopoly w88 casino enforcement agencies as soon as possible and start to establish a unified, relatively independent, professional and authoritative w88 casino enforcement department.
Fourth, enhance the status of competition policy. In countries with mature market economies, competition policy is the leading economic policy. Together with fiscal policy, financial policy, and w88 policy, it constitutes the main body of the country's basic economic policy. In the early stages of economic development in our country, we mainly relied on industrial policy, while competition policy was on the fringe and was even ignored for a time. As my country's market economy and rule of law improve, the importance of competition policy will steadily increase and eventually become the country's basic economic policy. Although competition policy cannot completely replace industrial policy in the short term, it is necessary to gradually promote the rationalization of industrial policy through competition assessment in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of industrial policy.
Report link:
http://paper.ce.cn/jjrb/html/2014-09/24/content_216697.htm
Reprinted by China Government Website:http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2014-09/24/content_2755308.htm
Reprinted by ifeng.com:http://finance.ifeng.com/a/20140924/13141430_0.shtml
