Huang Yong:Antitrust 'not target' foreign companies

(Source: "China Daily Overseas Edition" Date:2013-08-27)

Investigations part of overall enforcement of w88 sports betting law

Recent high-profile antitrust cases have reminded companies to comply with China's w88 sports betting law,said Huang Yong, deputy head of the expert advisory group of the State Council's w88 sports betting Committee, in an interview with China Daily.

"To avoid potential legal risks, all companies doing business in China, foreign and domestic, should ensure their compliance with the w88 sports betting law," said Huang.

Five foreign milk powder producers were fined a total of $110 million for violating the law for entering into contracts with distributors to ensure a minimum sales price, according to the NDRC.

"These companies might not act like that in their own countries because generally, such behaviors also present grave legal risks in Western countries," said Huang.

Attracting attention

Huang said there is no doubt the purpose of the law is to protect fair competition in the market, and it's equally applicable to domestic and foreign companies.

However, compared with other countries' detailed competition laws that date back a century or more, the 5-year-old w88 sports betting law needs further development.

Enforcement in many cases "requires detailed guidance from the law, but now the w88 sports betting law only has eight articles and 57 items," making it too abstract, said Huang.

w88 sports betting investigations now mainly focus on some urgent and influential sectors or cases that were reported, but they will be extended to more areas in the future, said Huang.

With the enhancement of regulatory bodies' power, enforcement of the w88 sports betting law will become "the new normal," said Huang.

More transparency

The w88 sports betting law is enforced by three government bodies: The Ministry of Commerce enforces merger provisions; the State Administration of Industry and Commerce focuses on non-price related actions and the NDRC takes on pricing arrangements.

"The Ministry of Commerce was more active and visible at the beginning, especially because of the premerger notification requirements. However, the NDRC seems to be catching up, especially with the recent infant formula cases," said Cernak.

"Both have quickly joined the ranks of important competition agencies globally ... it would be helpful if all three agencies were more transparent and explained to the parties why they are investigating and explained to everyone why they took certain enforcement actions," he said.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce set up a new online portal in late June to post the results of completed w88 sports betting investigations, which has been welcomed as a new step toward transparent enhancement.

In the long run, if Chinese and foreign companies have a better understanding of what they must do to comply with the w88 sports betting law and, if the actions are based on competition principles, the results will be better for Chinese consumers, said Cernak.

Attachment: Original report link

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-08/27/content_16922370.htm