Antitrust And Competition Newsletter: August 2014

Asia

China's MOFCOM Blocks 'P3 Alliance' Despite EU, U.S. Non-Opposition

On June 17, 2014, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), China's competition regulator, prohibited the proposed "P3 Alliance" that would have combined the world's three largest container carriers—Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM—on certain shipping routes.

MOFCOM prohibited the deal despite the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) clearing the transaction in March 2014, and the European Commission (Commission) announcing its decision not to open an investigation just two weeks prior to the MOFCOM prohibition. The differing outcomes resulted from each authority analyzing only the effects of the deal relating to its respective market. The FMC did not analyze Asia-Europe routes since it has no jurisdiction over it and, conversely, MOFCOM did not analyze Europe-North America routes. Moreover, while the FMC and Commission assessed the deal under their respective competition rules applicable to cooperative agreements between independent undertakings, MOFCOM assessed the deal as a concentration and therefore applied merger control rules and its related economic analysis, which allow non-competition factors such as macroeconomics and collective policy considerations to be taken into account.

Characterising the P3 Alliance as a cooperative agreement rather than as a merger meant that the FMC and the Commission had limited power to impose ex ante remedies or to prohibit the deal at the outset, since antitrust law applicable to cooperative agreements in the U.S. and EU can usually be enforced ex post only. On the contrary, merger control rules normally allow the regulators to intervene ahead of the implementation of the transaction.

MOFCOM's reasons for characterizing the P3 Alliance as a merger are unclear, however, because just 10 days ahead of its prohibition decision, MOFCOM revised its merger review guidance. It appears that MOFCOM was concerned that the P3 Alliance would have controlled 46.7 percent of the Asia-Europe shipping route market and therefore would have raised barriers for new entrants and put smaller rivals at a disadvantage. This is only the second time MOFCOM has prohibited a merger since China introduced its antitrust regime in 2008 (the first prohibition addressed the acquisition of juice-maker Huiyuan by Coca-Cola in 2009); but it is the first time that the regulator has blocked a global transaction among foreign parties.

Inner Mongolia AIC Fines Fireworks Wholesalers for Market Division Under China's Anti-Monopoly Law

China's State Administration on Industry and Commerce (SAIC) recently published Inner Mongolia AIC's May 2014 decision imposing fines totaling 583,700 RMB (U.S.$94,800) on six fireworks wholesale companies in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, for unlawful market division under the Anti-Monopoly Law.

In 2006, the local work safety department in one of the two districts of the central area of Chifeng divided the distribution areas for each of the fireworks wholesale companies within the jurisdiction, with the claimed intentions of preventing safety accidents arising from lowered product quality that could be caused by aggressive competition and guiding the companies to actively participate in market management. A similar arrangement was adopted by the other district of the central area in 2009. Under these arrangements, each designated sub-area was supplied by one wholesaler, and retailers in a sub-area were forced to purchase products only from the designated wholesaler. Although there was no agreement in writing, all the wholesalers acted in concert by following the administrative restrictions. Through coordination with local public and work security departments, each year the wholesalers were able to examine retailers' goods and confiscate goods not purchased from the designated wholesaler in each sub-area. This conduct lasted until the Inner Mongolia AIC's investigation started in January 2014.

In addition, four of the six companies were authorized by local work safety departments to hold safety training for retailers and to apply for fireworks retail licenses on behalf of retailers. With such authorization, the four companies asked the retailers applying for the licenses to make down payments for orders. Retailers that did not make the down payments could run out of stock during peak seasons, and they were not allowed to replenish their inventories from any other wholesale supplier.

Inner Mongolia AIC found that the agreements to divide markets violated the Anti-Monopoly Law. The four wholesalers imposing unreasonable trade conditions on retailers were fined 8 percent of their annual revenues for 2013, and the other two were fined 7 percent.

The Inner Mongolia AIC's decision is available here.

China's SAIC Issues New Draft of Antitrust Regulations for Intellectual Property Rights

China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) has issued a new draft of its regulations governing antitrust enforcement of intellectual property rights (the "Rules"). The Rules are designed to protect competition, encourage innovation, and prevent the abuse of intellectual property rights to eliminate or restrict competition. The Rules establish a general principle that undertakings shall not conclude monopolistic agreements as prohibited in the Anti-Monopoly Law by exploiting intellectual property rights.

The Rules address a broad range of intellectual property licensing conduct, including refusals to license essential patents, exclusive dealing, tying arrangements, exclusive grantbacks, no-challenge clauses, imposing restrictions or demanding royalties after a patent expires, discriminating among licensees without justification, etc. They also provide guidelines for participating in patent pools, which are similar to some of the rules the U.S. Department of Justice has developed through its Business Review Letters. In addition, the Rules provide regulations for participating in standards-setting organizations, including prohibiting refusing to disclose standards-essential patents and later asserting patent rights against entities implementing the standards, and also prohibiting companies holding standards-essential patents from refusing to license on FRAND terms. The Rules also establish principles for enforcement, including procedures for analyzing a suspected abuse of intellectual property rights, and factors for analyzing the effect of conduct on competition.

The Rules provide for penalties that include the confiscation of illegal gains and a fine between 1 and 10 percent of the turnover in the previous fiscal year. The amount of the penalty is to be determined based on factors such as the nature, particulars, seriousness and duration of the unlawful conduct.

A copy of the Rules is available here.

Beijing High Court Upholds Decisions Finding Violation of AML by Seafood Trade Association

China's Beijing High Court has upheld the Beijing Second Intermediate Court's September 2013 decision in Lou, Binglin v. Beijing Seafood Wholesale Industry Association, the first case in which a court found a violation of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) through horizontal monopolistic agreements since the AML was promulgated in 2008.

Binglin Lou and his wife had been selling seafood, mainly scallops originated from Dalian Zhangzi Island Group Co., Ltd., in a Beijing seafood market. Lou was a member of the Beijing Seafood Wholesale Industry Association, which was registered on Sept. 29, 2011, with 31 members. The Association Manual provided, in the section "Rules on Rewards and Penalties," that "[m]embers are prohibited from unfair competition, nor are they permitted to sell scallops at a discounted price that goes against the Association's provisions," and that "[m]embers are prohibited from selling whole packages of scallops to non-members in the market where a member operates a business." The Association organized meetings among members regarding the scallop business, including concerted consultation with the Dalian Zhangzi Island Group, on sources, prices, rewards and restrictions on sales to non-members. The Association also implemented rewards and penalties and fined Lou several times for violations.

The court found that the Association conducted activities externally as an independent legal entity from at least Sept. 29 to Dec. 31, 2011. Meeting minutes of the Association showed that although the meetings since January 2012 referred to Dalian Zhangzi Island Group Company Ltd. Beijing Sales Alliance ("Sales Alliance"), most...