The AmCham Shanghai Legal Committee is pleased to invite you to an event reviewing the recent trends in antitrust developments in China, scheduled for Wednesday, September 25th, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the AmCham Shanghai conference room.

Our guest speaker is Mr. Adrian Emch, Partner of Global Regulatory at Hogan Lovells. Adrian is an antitrust and global regulatory lawyer who leads the firm's antitrust/competition law practice in Asia, with over 20 years of experience in the field. He has worked extensively on Chinese antitrust matters, including high-profile merger approvals and investigations.

In August 2022, the first revision to the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) ushered China into a new era of antitrust enforcement. As the period since the AML revision largely coincides with the slowdown of the local economy, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and its provincial offices – the Chinese antitrust agencies – appear to have grown more cautious in their enforcement of the AML.

However, we are not seeing an AML enforcement stop but merely a change in enforcement patterns. First, through the adoption of quasi-legislative guidance and case practice, the Chinese courts have lowered the burden to bring antitrust lawsuits and have thereby signaled increased interest in providing an alternative route for AML enforcement. Second, SAMR and its provincial offices have spent considerable time issuing and refining AML guidelines and at times resorting to "informal" AML enforcement, which impacts companies' compliance efforts. Third, over the past two years, SAMR has beefed up the rules against anti-competitive actions by government bodies, in particular the rules under the Fair Competition Review System (FCRS).

In the seminar this Wednesday, our speaker will discuss where the main AML compliance risks remain for companies in this new era of AML enforcement. And how the FCRS and other rules actually provide a unique opportunity for companies to use the AML to their benefit and tackle unfair rules or practices by government actors.

Agenda:

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Registration and Networking

3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Presentation & Briefings

4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Q&A

5:00 p.m. – Meeting Ends