The Anti-monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation recently published the Guidelines on Leniency for Horizontal Monopoly Agreements. The guidelines propose a relatively reliable leniency system under the Anti-monopoly Law, which is of great significance for improving the effectiveness of antitrust enforcement, while providing a valuable source of guidance for Chinese market players to follow.
China's antitrust agency's greatest competition concerns in the automobile sector relate to vertical restraints. Possibly underscoring this concern, the newly published Antitrust Guidelines on the Automobile Industry placed its main focus on clarifying issues arising therefrom. To help companies in the automobile industry better make their own assessments on antitrust compliance in China, this article explains the antitrust rules relating to vertical restraints provided in the guidelines and analyses their implications.
Alongside increased administrative action, Chinese companies increasingly bring private antitrust actions against rival companies, particularly in the technology sphere. These suits are often accompanied by an administrative complaint that can lead to investigations and penalties. This article clarifies China's hybrid antitrust system in order to better understand the antitrust risks facing foreign enterprises in China.
China's merger review practice has not been negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. According to public statistics, in the first quarter of 2020 the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) completed 111 filing reviews, with a slight year-on-year growth of 0.9%. The current economic downturn raises the question of whether the SAMR will relax its antitrust scrutiny to encourage M&A activity. However, recent merger review practice in China suggests that this has not been the case in the semiconductor sector.
The year 2019 marked the 11th anniversary of the implementation of the Anti-monopoly Law and was also the first full calendar year since the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) became China's single centralised antitrust enforcement agency. Evidently. the SAMR has become more stringent and detail oriented with respect to the analysis of relevant markets and the competition impact of mergers.
Foreign insurers cannot directly sell insurance products in China unless they have successfully established a joint venture or wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) insurer in mainland China. In light of Shenzhen's recent pilots and reforms, it is now the most favourable destination for foreign insurers seeking to establish a WFOE in mainland China.
Despite the tortuous path ahead for the US election campaigns and the trials and tribulations of 2020, the US-China Phase One Trade Deal remains in place. As China begins to further open its financial market, foreign insurance institutions (FIIs) may be wondering whether non-US FIIs have any chance of benefiting from China's treatment of US insurers. If only US insurers benefit, would that be a Global Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) violation or would it be GATS compliant?
The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected business operations worldwide. For many companies, business interruption (BI) as a result of the pandemic is one of the greatest operational risks of 2020. Although many companies are insured against BI, their coverage may not extend as far as they believe. For example, compensation under a BI policy is often based on the condition that damage to property has occurred. This article sheds some light on this rule.
It is no secret that China's insurance industry presents good upside growth opportunities and China's insurtech market continues to grow rapidly. Foreign insurers are currently underrepresented in this market, even as former market barriers to entry continue to fall. This market presents great potential for foreign insurers, and Western insurers in particular have centuries of experience to share with their Chinese counterparts.
In early 2020, the Luckin Coffee scandal drew attention from the insurance, legal and security industries and turned the spotlight on directors' and officers' (D&O) liability insurance policies in China. With the developing pace of the security and insurance markets, the refreshed focus on D&O insurance gives Chinese underwriters plenty to contemplate.
In August 2020 the State Cryptography Administration released the Regulations for the Administration of Commercial Cryptography (Draft for Comment). The draft regulations provide that the import of commercial cryptography products on the Commercial Encryption Import Licence List and the export of commercial cryptography products on the Commercial Encryption Export Control List should be subject to the import and export licence for dual-use items issued by the State Council.
In August 2020 the Ministry of Commerce issued the Master Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Pilot Programme on the Innovative Development of Trade in Services. The plan covers 28 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The pilot programme, which concerns cross-border data transfer security management, will run for three years.
In 2020 the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Guidelines on the Construction of a Data Security Standards System in the Telecoms and Internet Industries for public comment. According to the draft guidelines, the data security standards system for telecoms and internet industries comprises four categories: basic and general standards, critical technology standards, security management standards and critical field standards.
In August 2020 the National Information Security Standardisation Technical Committee issued the Information Security Technology – Method for Evaluating the Security Protection Capabilities of Critical Information Infrastructure (Draft for Comment) for public comment. According to the draft method, the evaluation of the security protection capabilities of critical information infrastructure will focus on capability domain level, graded protection and cryptography.
In August 2020 the National Information Security Standardisation Technical Committee released the Information Security Technology – Method of Boundary Identification for Critical Information Infrastructure (Draft for Comment) for public opinion. The draft provides six factors that should be considered when identifying the boundaries of critical information infrastructure: critical business, network facilities, information systems, critical business information, critical business information flows and basic operation environments.