Office of Anti-monopoly Investigations, Department of Treaty and Law, Ministry of Commerce, Guidelines for Anti-monopoly Filings in Connection with Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors

Issued: March 8 2007

Main Contents: The Guidelines set forth the procedures for anti-monopoly filings in connection with mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign enterprises. In principle, the acquirer is the reporting party; however, depending on the specific circumstances of a case, the reporting party may be the target enterprise. If more than one party satisfies the criteria to act as the reporting party, they may make a joint filing, or they may each make separate filings. A reporting party may make a filing in its own name or it may appoint a Chinese law firm and have a China qualified lawyer make the filing on its behalf.

An anti-monopoly filing for an enterprise merger or acquisition shall be made before the merger or acquisition plan is made public. An anti-monopoly filing for an enterprise merger or acquisition shall be made before the merger or acquisition plan for an offshore merger and acquisition filing is made public or at the same time such filing is made with the competent authority of the host country.