I. Scope of Application of the Anti-monopoly Law China's Anti-monopoly Law is also applicable to market subjects, namely operators. Any operator, whether it is a state-owned enterprise or a private enterprise, whether it is a domestic-funded enterprise or a foreign-funded enterprise, must abide by the provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law in economic activities; In violation of the provisions, the implementation of monopolistic behavior, shall be investigated for legal responsibility according to law. On the issue of state-owned companies and the application of anti-monopoly law, I would like to quote an expert's point of view: China is a big socialist country with a large population, a vast territory and unbalanced development, and needs a strong state-owned economy. Especially in the key areas involving the national economy and people's livelihood and national security, the state-owned economy should occupy a controlling position and play a leading role. Only in this way can we ensure that the state effectively implements macro-control, that the economy develops well and rapidly, that the people share the fruits of development, that the state has the strength to cope with various risks, and that economic security and people live and work in peace. However, China's anti-monopoly law does not exclude state-owned companies from the scope of application of the anti-monopoly law, and state-owned companies cannot engage in monopolistic behaviors prohibited by the anti-monopoly law. Referring to international practice, China's anti-monopoly law does not directly regulate monopoly state, but regulates monopoly behavior. According to the provisions of Article 3 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, there are three kinds of monopolistic behaviors: first, the operators reach a monopoly agreement; Second, operators abuse market dominance; The third is the concentration of operators who have or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition. At the same time, China's anti-monopoly law includes the abuse of administrative power, exclusion and restriction of competition by administrative organs and organizations authorized by laws and regulations to manage public affairs into the scope of this law. China's anti-monopoly law is applicable to both monopolistic behaviors in China and monopolistic behaviors outside China that exclude and restrict competition in the China market, and it has extraterritorial effect.
Second, regarding monopoly agreements, China's anti-monopoly law prohibits horizontal monopoly agreements and vertical monopoly agreements respectively. It is forbidden for trade associations to organize operators in their own industries to implement monopoly agreements. According to the actual situation of our country, the exemption conditions of monopoly agreement are stipulated. We are concerned that the monopoly agreements reached between competitors on fixing prices, limiting production, dividing markets and colluding in bidding are called core cartels, which have been severely cracked down by anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies in many countries around the world. It is also difficult for the core cartel to meet the exemption conditions of monopoly agreement stipulated in Article 13 of China's Anti-monopoly Law, that is, "it will not seriously restrict the competition in the relevant market" and "it will enable consumers to share the benefits arising therefrom", so it is a restricted area for operators to operate.
Three. Abuse of Market Dominance China's Anti-monopoly Law does not object to operators having market dominance, but it is strictly prohibited to abuse market dominance to exclude, restrict competition and harm consumers' interests. The Anti-Monopoly Law lists typical behaviors of abusing market dominance, such as monopoly price, predatory pricing, refusal to trade, compulsory trading, tying and differential treatment. In order to increase the operability of the anti-monopoly law, the anti-monopoly law stipulates the factors that should be based on which operators are determined to have a dominant market position and the presumption system of market dominance. What we are concerned about is that the definition of market dominance and the analysis of abuse are extremely challenging areas in anti-monopoly law enforcement, both newly established and mature anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies, which require a lot of economic analysis.
Fourthly, the concentration of operators is conducive to the formation of economies of scale, thus improving economic efficiency and the competitiveness of enterprises; On the other hand, it may create or strengthen market dominance, leading to the exclusion or restriction of competition. Therefore, all countries' anti-monopoly laws control the concentration of business operators. China's anti-monopoly law encourages operators to become bigger and stronger through concentration according to law, and regulates the concentration behavior of operators according to law, stipulating that operators who meet the declaration standards stipulated by the State Council should report to the anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies in the State Council in advance, and those who fail to report shall not implement concentration. China's Anti-monopoly Law does not directly stipulate the declaration standard for concentration of business operators, but the authorization is stipulated by the State Council. At present, the relevant departments in the State Council are working hard to study the declaration standards for concentration of operators. From the legal provisions of other countries and China's own law enforcement practice, we realize that the indicators of the operator's centralized declaration standard should be objective, clear and quantifiable, such as asset amount, sales volume, centralized transaction amount, etc., so that operators and anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies can clearly judge whether the planned centralized behavior needs to be declared. At the same time, we are concerned that countries' anti-monopoly laws determine their own declaration standards according to their own economic development stage, development level, market competition and other conditions, combined with industrial policies in a certain period, and the specific standards vary greatly. One of the main problems in China's current economic development is that the industrial concentration is not high, and many enterprises cannot meet the requirements of economies of scale and their competitiveness is not high. Based on the actual situation of China's current economic development, the provisions of China's anti-monopoly law on concentration of operators should not only help enterprises to become bigger and stronger through legal mergers, develop economies of scale, improve industrial concentration and enhance competitiveness, but also prevent excessive concentration of operators from forming monopoly. Therefore, the specific declaration criteria for concentration of business operators should be reasonable and appropriate.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition In view of the specific manifestations and harms of administrative monopoly that administrative organs and public organizations abuse administrative power to exclude and restrict market competition in China's market economy, Chapter V of China's Anti-monopoly Law has made special provisions on the abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition. It enumerates the acts of abusing administrative power to exclude and restrict competition, such as compulsory trading, regional blockade (including restricting the circulation of goods between regions, preventing foreign operators from participating in local bidding activities, and setting market access in an unfair way, etc. ), as well as forcing operators to engage in monopolistic behavior, comprehensively covers the main manifestations of China's abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition. At the same time, the anti-monopoly law also makes special provisions on abstract administrative acts that restrict competition, requiring that "administrative organs shall not abuse administrative power and formulate provisions to exclude and restrict competition". The Anti-Monopoly Law prohibits the abuse of administrative power to exclude or restrict competition, which clearly shows the country's determination to resolutely oppose and stop the abuse of administrative power to exclude or restrict competition and unswervingly promote the establishment of a unified, fair, standardized and orderly market system throughout the country. It should be emphasized that the measures taken by the government and its relevant departments to standardize economic life or manage economic activities normally cannot be regarded as abusing administrative power to exclude or restrict competition. To fundamentally solve the problem of abusing administrative power to exclude and restrict competition, we must rely on reform, development, further improvement of the market economic system, comprehensive management and long-term unremitting efforts in all aspects.