On May 23, 2006 an interesting workshop was held at East Asian Legal Studies, Harvard Law School to discuss China’s recent effort to enact an Anti-Monopoly Law. Despite some predicaments (such as an internal bureaucratic battle over the jurisdiction), some predict that the Law may be passed some time next year. (If you want to see the most recent draft (an unofficial translation), please email me.)
The keynote speaker, Prof. Wang Xiaoye from Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), who is the leading expert in this issue, emphasized that China should pass the Law sooner or later not only to promote market competition generally in China (and therefore benefit consumers) but also discipline widespread (and very serious) anti-competitive practices by none but the government itself! ("administrative monopoly").
The Law tends to raise a very profound question. China is a still transitional economy, moving from a once planned economy to a modern market economy. Yet, still the government controls (or interferes with) many aspects of everyday economic lives. Is the Chinese government ready (or willing) to defer such control to the market? Would that be politically acceptable (or even desirable) in the current Chinese political climate? (Note that Article I of the draft Law emphasizes that the Law should uphold a "socialist" market economy.)
Many foreign businesspeople fear that the Law might affect their business in a negative way in the name of competition policy. (Think of the recent Microsoft case in Europe. That might happen also in China!) In fact, in 2004 the Chinese State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) released a report condemning alleged anti-competitive practices by some big foreign multinational enterprises in China, such as Microsoft, Tetra-Pak, and Kodak.
It remains to be seen how China would address all these complicated issues and considerations in the course of passing its very first comprehensive competition law.
