China to enforce antitrust law more strictly

China's anti-monopoly bureau will step up enforcement against monopoly behavior and advance the amended anti-monopoly law to improve the legal framework, said Gan Lin, head of the national anti-monopoly bureau.

China last month increased the management of the antitrust division of the Market Authority, the National Anti-Monopoly Bureau, and appointed Gan as head. This would help antitrust authorities get more resources when considering mergers and acquisitions.

Gan said China is still "inadequate penalties" for some monopoly activities, while some antitrust rules remain at a basic level.

"With the rapid development of the digital economy and the emergence of new industries and business models, there are huge differences in the modes of competition between the new and traditional economies," Gan said in an interview posted on Sunday on the official website of the State Authority for Market Regulation ( SAMR) has been published.

"There is an urgent need to further improve antimonopoly legislation and regulation of industry."

China dramatically abandoned its once relatively loose approach to regulating the internet sector this year, blocking mergers and fines e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Group Holding a record $ 2.75 billion for abusing its market position Dollars imposed.

Alibaba has been accused of having a "two-vendor" practice, in which an e-commerce platform prohibits vendors from selling on competing websites.

Gan said the practice was not seen during China's annual "618 Shopping Festival" and Singles' Day online shopping festival that year after the agency launched a sector-wide correction.

In October, the agency fined the food supplier Meituan $ 527 million for abuse of its dominant position.

"The regularity of competition in the market has improved a lot and the smaller businesses have gained more space," said Gan.

As a next step, the agency will step up the antimonopoly audit of concentrated companies and continue to prevent mergers from disrupting the market and curb excessive capital expansion, Gan said.