On 5 Jan. 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued 13 administrative penalties.
According to the penalties, the SAMR unveiled 13 cases of unreported concentration of business operations and imposed a fine of CNY 500,000 on several domestic internet giants involved per case.
Although the fine was relatively small, it was de facto the highest amount that could be imposed by the regulatory authority under this circumstance. It is fair to say that the regulatory authority has considered these behaviors to be serious.
Among them, there are nine penalties involving Tencent Holdings Ltd, and one penalty involving Bilibili Inc, Ali Venture Capital Co. Ltd as well as Alibaba (China) Network Technology Co. Ltd each.
All the companies involved are influential internet giants in China.
It is worth noting that, on 10 April 2021, Alibaba was fined CNY 18,228 billion (approx. USD 2,858 billion) for abusing its dominant position in the domestic online retail platform service market. This has been the highest penalty amount in China’s anti-monopoly enforcement.
On 10 Nov. 2020, the SAMR also issued the “Antitrust Guidelines for Platform Economy (Draft for Public Comment)” (關于平臺經濟領域的反壟斷指南(征求意見稿)), aiming to prevent and stop monopolistic behaviors in the country’s internet platform sector.
Cover Photo by JuniperPhoton on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
