On the afternoon of June 3, 2021, the editorial board of "Twelve Years of China's Anti-monopoly: Review and Prospect" (hereinafter referred to as "Twelve Years of the AML in China”) held a new book release ceremony and conducted academic discussions on competition policy. Peng Sen, Chairman of the China Society for Economic System Reform (previously Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission), who wrote the preface and postscript for the book, and Zhang Qiong (formerly Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council), the first leader of the expert advisory group of the State Council Anti-Monopoly Commission), participated in the ceremony and give keynote speeches. The six editorial members of the book, as well as representatives of the Beijing Cairncross Economic Research Foundation and CITIC Publishing House attended the meeting and gave speeches.
Chairman Peng Sen delivered a keynote speech on "Strengthening the fundamental position of competition policy and comprehensively promote the reform of our country". In his speech, he said that in recent years the central government has repeatedly proposed to strengthen the fundamental position of competition policy and this topic is very important. From the perspective of reform and the function of competition policy, the implementation of competition policy can help solve some of the difficult issues and mechanism problems faced by reform. He pointed out that after more than 40 years of reform and opening up, my country’s reforms have entered the deep-water zone and are facing the core and difficult problems of building and improving the socialist market economic system. What is particularly prominent is that market-oriented reforms in related fields are relatively lagging and there is no fully functioning fair competition system yet. Local protectionism, administrative monopoly, market segmentation, etc., have hindered the market-oriented allocation of resources. There are still some obstacles to the free flow of commodities, services, capital, and talents, unreasonable market access, and differential treatment between different market entities, and so on, which affect fair competition. These issues are areas where competition policy should and can play a greater role. The "14th Five-Year Plan" outlines the strengthening of the fundamental position of competition policy as one of the three major contents of building a high-standard market system. Competition policy is to play a greater role through gradually resolving the mechanisms and systems of a unified national market and fair competition. He proposed that to strengthen the fundamental status of competition policy, we must focus on several aspects. First, continue to comprehensively clean up the contents of the policy and legal system that are not compatible with the unified national market and fair competition. This is an important task assigned by the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party, and it needs to be implemented persistently. The second is to establish a competition law enforcement agency that matches the basic status of competition policy and achieve normalisation of law enforcement. In particular, it is necessary to vigorously investigate and punish cases of abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition and strive to break down local protectionism and administrative market barriers. The third is to establish a special litigation system for administrative monopolies. The fourth is to gradually improve the compatibility of industrial policy and competition policy based on competition policy. He emphasized that competition policy can reasonably define the boundary between the government and the market, and the introduction of various policies should not ignore or weaken the fundamental role of competition policy. Strengthening the fundamental position of competition policy can boost my country's reform undertakings, and in particular help build a national unified market and a market system with fair competition.
Director Zhang Qiong delivered a keynote speech on the topic of the draft "Revision of the Anti-Monopoly Law to Improve the Modern Economy". He pointed out that the current economic and social development is now very different from the scenario when the AML was enacted. The revision of the AML is necessary due to changes with time and new circumstances. Especially in light of the development of and changes in my country's economic market in the past three years, the conditions for amending the AML that came into effect on August 1, 2008 should be ripe. This is not only to actively respond to the new economic and market situation, but also to improve the modern economic system and promote greater development. Director Zhang Qiong summarized and introduced the main revisions of the draft for comments:
The first is to recognize that operators in the internet field have a dominant market position, increased network effects, economies of scale, lock-in effects, and the ability to master and process relevant data. Second, the relevant content on strengthening the basic status of competition policy and the fair competition review system was written into the draft for comments, which highlights the inherent requirements for improving the socialist market economy system and promoting high-quality development. The third is to improve the authority of the anti-monopoly legal system. Anti-monopoly laws, law enforcement, and justice must be authoritative and credible, otherwise their fairness will be questioned. The fourth is to resolutely break administrative monopoly and make a number of arrangements in the draft for soliciting opinions which are intended to strengthen investigation and punishment. Fifth, it is about prohibiting organizations that help reach monopoly agreements. Sixth, it is about actively investigating the concentration of operators suspected of monopoly. Seventh, the public security organs shall provide assistance in accordance with the law when necessary in the investigations of anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies in order to strengthen legal enforcement. Eighth, it is about greatly increasing the standard of fines, especially for monopoly agreements and illegal concentration, etc.
At the launch ceremony of the new book, Wu Suping, editor-in-chief of the “Bijiao” (Comparative Economics) journal editorial office of CITIC Publishing Group, said: There are nearly a hundred authors in the book, including domestic experts, scholars, officials, judges, and lawyers who participated in the research, drafting and enforcement of the AML, as well as internationally renowned antitrust experts. They reviewed the process of China's anti-monopoly legislation, summarized anti-monopoly theories, and analysed international and domestic anti-monopoly law enforcement practices and cases. This book not only has important historical value, but it can also enlighten future antitrust theoretical research and law enforcement. It is a unique reference book worthy of serious study.
Li Ling, secretary general of the Beijing Cairncross Economic Research Foundation, said: "The Foundation is honoured to provide funding for the publication of the book "Twelve Years of the Anti-Monopoly Law in China". The Foundation has paid attention to China’s competition policy, and since 2013 have carried out a series of Sino-foreign collaborative research about Chinese competition policy and published various research reports. The Foundation is committed to strengthening the analyses of China's economic policies and to promoting the coordinated development of the Chinese economy and the global economy. The Foundation is willing to continue to promote and carry out research on anti-monopoly, competition policy and macroeconomic policy in cooperation with all parties.
Editor-in-chief of "Twelve Years of the Anti-Monopoly Law in China", Li Qing (Deputy-Director of the China Society for Economic System Reform), on behalf of all the editorial board members, expressed sincere thanks for the full cooperation and support of nearly a hundred authors, funders, publishers and readers for the book. She said that the publication of the book coincided with the fact that anti-monopoly has become a hot issue which all sectors of the society pay great attention to. This was an encouragement to all members of the editorial committee and gave everyone the confidence to continue working hard. She said that 12 years is a satisfactory number. The publication of this book brings us a complete sense of accomplishment. We also clearly know that this is the first 12 years of China’s AML and there are endless possibilities in the future. As individuals, we are very happy to contribute, even in a small way, to the development of the country and society.
At the subsequent seminar, Ren Yong, the Director of Tiandihe Law Firm, Qi Huan, Professor of China University of Political Science and Law, Wei Shiling, Senior Partner of Dacheng Law Firm, Zhang Xin, Chinese expert of EU-China Competition Week, Peng Sen and Li Qing, respectively the Chairman and Deputy-Director of the China Economic System Reform Research Association, delivered speeches.
Attorney Ren Yong introduced several typical cases of operator concentration and shared with everyone the experience of his anti-monopoly team growing up with China's AML. He talked about the AML’s maintenance of market order and changes to business operations. He said: "As an AML lawyer, our duty is not only to provide clients with high-quality services, but also to implement the essence of the AML in practice, thereby promoting fair competition, emphasizing the rule of law and the construction of a vibrant market environment. Anti-monopoly lawyers will continue to participate in promoting the development of the AML.”
In his speech on EU-China digital economy competition and cooperation policy, Professor Qi Huan mentioned that in comparing China and the EU's digital economy development status, my country's platform economy is more active than the EU, and the EU's supporting measures for the digital economy are superior those in my country. The EU has passed the GDPR to implement the most stringent supervision and review of data collection by companies. China's digital enterprise data compliance risks have increased significantly, data sovereignty contradictions have become increasingly prominent, and problems such as "digital technology politicisation" have emerged. The high-tech and intelligent development of the digital economy, the use of big data to implement more covert monopolistic behaviour, algorithmic collusion, algorithmic price discrimination, data flow barriers, data disclosure and intellectual property protection and other new issues have increased the difficulty of competition policy supervision, and there is accordingly an urgent need to improve the technical means of supervision and the resource capacity.
Attorney Wei Shilin reviewed and looked forward to the process of China's administrative monopoly and the Fair Competition Review System (FCRS). By combing the law enforcement data of administrative monopoly for 12 years and the use of the FCRS, he discussed the four development stages in the start and acceleration of the review of administrative monopoly and fair competition review enforcement. He also looked forward to the future development of curtailing administrative monopoly and of the FCRS. He said that it is necessary to establish and strengthen the basic position of competition policy, write the FCRS into the AML, and use the FCRS to prevent administrative monopoly, promote the improvement and implementation of FCRS supporting systems and measures, and build a FCRS assessment and evaluation system.
Dr. Zhang Xin, on the topic of "Twelve Years of China's Anti-monopoly from an International Perspective", shared international scholars' evaluations of China's twelve years of the AML and their expectations for future development. In the book "Twelve Years of the Anti-Monopoly Law in China", internationally renowned scholars have written twelve articles that comprehensively analyse the twelve years of the AML in China from various angles, covering institutional construction, system improvement, and competition policy under the pandemic response, international cooperation, and issues related to anti-monopoly entities. He said: "Without exception, all international experts and scholars believe that China has made world-renowned achievements in the twelve years of the AML. In just twelve years, it has built a basically mature and complete anti-monopoly legal system. In a very short period of time, the three-in-one adjustment (integration) of the various law enforcement agencies has been realized by the experienced law enforcement agencies, laying a solid foundation for more long-term development in the future. International experts expect that China’s anti-monopoly can make greater contribute to the world’s anti-monopoly cause."
Li Qing, Deputy-Director of the China Society for Economic System Reform, gave a speech on the topic of competition policy prospects during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and on the main achievements of the country's competition policy during the 13th Five-Year Plan period and the 14th Five-Year Plan period. She discussed the background, main issues and prospects of the implementation of competition policy. She proposed that during the14th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to strengthen the fundamental position of competition policy in multiple ways. First, the legislature will comprehensively clean up the content of the legal system that is not compatible with the unified national market and fair competition. The second is to establish a special litigation system for administrative monopolies. The third is that the Ministry of Justice should be responsible for the substantive competition review of high-level documents. The fourth is to strengthen competition law enforcement agencies and normalize law enforcement and so on. Fifth, promote the implementation of competition policy at multiple levels.
Wei Ying, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of "Twelve Years of the Anti-Monopoly Law in China", presided over the new book release ceremony and seminar, and emphasized two points in hi conference summary. First, "Twelve Years of the Anti-monopoly Law in China" is a sequenced and very precious record of China's anti-monopoly development. The editorial board will actively respond to comments and feedback from all walks of life, continue to track the forefront development of anti-monopoly at home and abroad, and prepare for the reprint. Second, the development of anti-monopoly has entered the public eye. No matter whether it is the national strategy level, the business operation level, or the individual level, they are all inextricably linked to it. Promoting the development of anti-monopoly requires the attention and efforts of the whole society. We are willing to do our best to this end.
