中国颁布阻断立法应对外国法律不当域外实施
As the first departmental legislation of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in 2021, Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (Blocking Rules) were published with immediate effect beginning Jan. 9, 2021. Given the trade, technology, and even diplomacy tensions between the United States and China, a series of legislations were promulgated starting in the second half of 2020. Apart from the Blocking Rules, the MOC also issued the Provisions on the List of Unreliable Entities on Sept. 19, 2020, and the National People’s Congress issued the Export Control Law on Oct. 17, 2020. These new laws set out a preliminary framework for China’s trade compliance regime. However, given the brevity of the 16-article Blocking Rules, clarification is needed in subsequent implementation.
Friday, March 5, 2021
China
On Feb. 7, 2021, the Anti-monopoly Committee of the State Council issued the Anti-monopoly Guide for the Platform Economy Sector (the “Platform Guide”). The Platform Guide represents a finalization of a previous draft released in November 2020. The rules under the Platform Guide apply to activities of the internet platform economy.
Highlights of the Platform Guide include the following:
Definition of the Relevant Market. In contrast to the general requirement that a market must be clearly defined before assessing market harm, the Platform Guide appears to create an exception when investigating cases in the internet platform economy. Article 4.3 of the Platform Guide suggests that there may be instances where the relevant market is not required.
1. FTC approves Otto Bock HealthCare North America, Inc.’s application to divest assets in prosthetic knee merger.
On Dec. 1, 2020, the FTC announced its approval of an application by prosthetics manufacturer Otto Bock HealthCare North America Inc. to divest certain assets it acquired when it consummated its acquisition of FIH Group Holdings LLC (Freedom Innovations), including all microprocessor prosthetic knee (MPK) products and technology.
Otto Bock completed its acquisition of Freedom Innovations in September 2017, and FTC filed an administrative complaint in December of that year. In November 2019, upholding an administrative law judge’s decision, the FTC unanimously found that the merger was anticompetitive, and it issued the final order requiring Otto Bock to divest the Freedom Innovations business, with limited exceptions. The Commission vote to approve the application was 5-0.
Monday, December 14, 2020
China
On Nov. 11, 2020, the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) released the draft Anti-Monopoly Guide for the Internet Platform Economy Sector (Platform Guide) for public comment.
Under the Platform Guide, practices such as demanding that business partners only enter into transactions with one platform operator or engaging in price discrimination based on a customer’s shopping history or user profile could potentially be made illegal. The Platform Guide represents the first time that the SAMR has attempted to address competitive practices specifically pertaining to internet companies under the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law. The public comment period ended Nov. 30, 2020.