In June 2015, China pushed through a relatively bold liberalization of drug prices, moving from a regime where the government decides the prices or price ranges of the most commonly used drugs to a regime where the prices of most drugs are determined by market forces. Already then, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)…
On 14 June 2016, China’s State Council made public the Opinions on Establishing a Fair Competition Review System in the Development of the Market Regime (“Opinions“). The Opinions were approved on 1 June. The “fair competition review system” forms part of China’s broader efforts to tackle so-called “administrative monopolies,” a term used for various forms…
On 8 June 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM“) released its decision to lift the conditions it had imposed on Walmart’s acquisition of 33.6% of the shares in Newheight Holdings. This acquisition in 2012 gave Walmart corresponding rights over Yihaodian, one of China’s best-known e-commerce supermarkets, through a reported “variable interest entity” (“VIE“) structure….
WeChat is a very popular messaging app in China, similar to WhatsApp and Facebook Messaging in other parts of the world. It has social networking, gaming, e-commerce and mobile payment functionalities. The app plays an increasingly important role in social – and business – interactions in China. As a result, it is not surprising that…
On April 22, 2016, the State Council – China’s “cabinet” – released a reform plan for the salt industry. Salt-imbocca Edible salt has been subject to a State/government monopoly/-ies in China since the Han Dynasty in around 120 BC. Salt used to be a relatively scarce product, at least in the more inland areas of…
Co-authored by Jay Modrall and Shan Hu. The authors of this article would like to thank Marc Waha, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, for his insightful comments. 1 Introduction The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has recently stepped up its cartel enforcement activities and for the first time has published non-confidential versions of…
