(Source: Guangming.com 2025-03-21)

Recently, the judgment in the antitrust administrative litigation case between Beijing Topix Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and the State Administration for Market Regulation ((2024) Beijing 73 Bank Chu No. 5180) was released. In this case, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court rejected the plaintiff Tobixi Company’s request to revoke the State Administration for Market Regulation’s “Decision No. 42 of 2023” and its administrative review decision. This case is the first judicial judgment in the field of concentration review in the nearly 17 years since the implementation of my country's Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile), and is of great significance to the implementation of my country's Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile.

1. Reflects the systematic advantages of the implementation procedures of my country’s Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile

This case is the first case in the field of concentration of business operators in my country that has experienced administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation. According to Article 65 of the Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile, if you are dissatisfied with the concentration review decision made by the anti-monopoly w88 mobile enforcement agency, you may first apply for administrative reconsideration in accordance with the w88 mobile; if you are dissatisfied with the administrative review decision, you may file an administrative lawsuit in accordance with the w88 mobile. It can be seen that the implementation procedures of my country’s Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile in the field of concentration of undertakings generally include administrative enforcement, administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation, coupled with the legal supervision procedures of the procuratorial organs. It should be said that the implementation procedures of my country’s Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile provide parties with sufficient relief channels for comparison around the world.

Anti-monopoly w88 mobile implementation procedures are an important symbol of the legalization level of anti-monopoly w88 mobile implementation in a jurisdiction. From the perspective of internationally accepted standards, whether the antitrust w88 mobile enforcement procedures can provide sufficient and effective relief channels for parties and consumers is a very critical evaluation indicator. In recent years, the antitrust w88 mobile theory and practice circles in some countries and regions believe that my country's review procedures for concentration of undertakings do not include judicial review procedures, and there is a gap between the internationally recognized due process standards. The issuance of the effective judgment in this case is a reflection of the corresponding institutional advantages of the implementation procedures of my country's Anti-Monopoly w88 mobile.

Compared with the United States, my country's antitrust law implementation procedures can maximize the relief efficiency of market competition under the constraints of limited law enforcement resources. Concentration cases in the United States often require antitrust law enforcement agencies to file lawsuits in court, and then the courts make decisions. However, while widespread judicial review has raised the lower limit of due process for concentration of business operators in the United States, it has also brought high administrative and judicial resource costs. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal w88 Commission have hundreds of officials specializing in antitrust law and economic analysis. In contrast, the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency of the State Council of my country has only about a hundred law enforcement personnel, and it is necessary to find an effective balance between constraints and legal objectives. Therefore, the procedural arrangements from administrative law enforcement to administrative reconsideration to administrative litigation can effectively screen out those cases in which the parties have a stronger willingness for judicial review.

Compared with Europe, my country’s relief channels in the anti-monopoly field are clearly written into the anti-monopoly w88 mobile and are more legalized. According to documents such as the "Guidelines for the Implementation Procedures of EU Competition w88 mobile" and the "EU Merger Control Regulation", merging companies can communicate informally with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition before notifying the merger case to discuss the market impact of the case, possible competition issues and required information materials. During the preliminary review stage, companies can discuss relief measures with w88 mobile enforcement agencies. Before a formal decision is made, the company can also apply for a final hearing with the w88 mobile enforcement agency and raise objections to the review conclusion at the meeting. Before the European Commission makes a formal decision, if an enterprise believes that the Commission's market definition or competition impact assessment is wrong, it can submit an economic report, industry analysis or new market data to request the Commission to re-evaluate its preliminary conclusions. This is usually called an informal review (Informal Review). In the UK, a system similar to administrative review is called “Reconsideration.” It is an internal review process that is usually re-evaluated by the original w88 mobile enforcement officer, or can be re-examined by a different, more senior w88 mobile enforcement officer. This system is more often used in immigration, social welfare and other types of cases, rather than in antitrust administrative enforcement cases.

2. Fully consider the characteristics of consumer interests in medicine, a field of people’s livelihood

Since 2022, my country’s anti-monopoly w88 mobile enforcement agencies have closely focused on the people-centered development idea, continuously exerted efforts in the field of people’s livelihood, and continuously carried out special anti-monopoly w88 mobile enforcement actions in the field of people’s livelihood. The highlights and results have been remarkable, and some w88 mobile enforcement models have been formed that are highly in line with my country’s special competition landscape and consumer interest characteristics. The pharmaceutical industry involved in this case is a striking example.

The pharmaceutical industry is directly related to people's lives and health and is an important area of people's livelihood. At the same time, our country has its own obvious characteristics, that is, it is difficult to balance multiple interests and there are many contradictions that are not easy to reconcile. First, my country has a huge population base, which faces both low per capita medical resources and limited medical consumption capacity. Second, pharmaceutical companies need sufficient profit margins to maintain supply and engage in research and development, but high drug prices will make it difficult for medical insurance to effectively cover all patients. Third, the drug separation system can reduce drug prices through competition in the drug sales market. However, considering that drug sales revenue usually accounts for 25% to 40% of a hospital’s total revenue and is an important source of hospital revenue, it is difficult for my country to implement Japan’s strict drug separation system at this stage.

Over the years, my country's pharmaceutical reform has continuously struggled with the problem of "difficulty and expensive medical treatment" for the people, and the reform results have been continuously responded and supported by the market rule of w88 mobile in the anti-monopoly field. Antitrust w88 mobile enforcement and judicial cases in the pharmaceutical field require a difficult balance between competition order, public interests and the bottom line of safety, focusing on the interests of patients, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other parties. Under my country's centralized pharmaceutical procurement and medical insurance system, the interests of consumers in the pharmaceutical field are largely reflected in the winning bid price of centralized procurement and the resulting savings in medical insurance costs, which requires pharmaceutical companies to have economies of scale. As stated in the facts found in the judgment of this case, economic analysis found that the current vertical dual monopoly market structure is too inefficient. If Simcere acquires Tobisi, the Batroxobin API will be supplied internally to avoid the price increase when Simcere supplies to Tobisi. There will be room to reduce price markups and improve market supply efficiency.

3. Explore and expand space for future theoretical research and practice on antitrust w88 mobile

In this case, the objection to the review decision by Tobisi Company, a participating concentration party, is that it believes that the w88 mobile enforcement agencies "should have banned the concentration of undertakings in which it participated", which is extremely rare in the history of global antitrust w88 mobile implementation. In July 2019, the Court of Dusseldorf, Germany, rejected the request of a hostile takeover target company of a minority stake to appeal against the German Federal Cartel Office's decision to acquire a minority stake. The court held that the purpose of the German merger control regime was solely to safeguard the public interest and the interests of market participants other than the acquiring parties. Therefore, the target company has no right to appeal against the license issued by the authority. In the judgment of the administrative litigation case between Tobixi Company and the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court quoted the Administrative Litigation w88 mobile and its judicial interpretations and clarified the criteria for identifying the "interests of the lawsuit" in deciding to file an administrative lawsuit after reviewing the concentration of operators, that is, the specific administrative actions affect the rights and interests of each declarer based on the concentration agreement. It also discussed the review procedures, review processes, and review results of the concentration of business operators, and came to many enlightening conclusions. In this case, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court went further than the aforementioned case related to the Dusseldorf Court in Germany to touch on the substantive content of the review of concentration of undertakings, consolidating my country's local knowledge resources in the field of concentration of undertakings.

This case is a "first case" with special circumstances. Dealing with special issues requires the accumulation and thinking of general principles and laws. The courts and law enforcement agencies were able to deal with this case calmly, thanks to the rapid accumulation of law enforcement and judicial experience in the past 17 years since the implementation of my country’s Anti-Monopoly Law. Judging from the century-old practice of anti-monopoly law, the more solid the market foundation and the more complete the rule of law, the greater the role of anti-monopoly law. With the advancement of China's modernization process and the continuous improvement of the high-level socialist market economic system, all sectors of society will have a deeper understanding, more discussion and higher expectations for anti-monopoly law. It is believed that this case will serve as a new starting point and leave more room for expansion of the theory and practice of my country’s antitrust laws in the future. (The author is a member of the expert advisory group of the Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Committee of the State Council and the director of the Competition Law Center of the w88 casino)

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https://share.gmw.cn/economy/2025-03/21/content_37918944.htm