Client Alerts

MOFCOM Solicits Public Comments on Draft Standards for Simple Concentration Cases Applicable to Possible Fast Track Pre-Merger Review

By DAVID LIVDAHL, JENNY SHENG & KAREN SONG

On April 3, 2013, the Ministry of Commerce (the “MOFCOM”) published a draft Interim Regulations on Applicable Standards for Simple Cases regarding Concentrations of Business Operators (the “Draft Simple Case Standards”).

In 2012, MOFCOM proposed to streamline anti-monopoly pre-merger reviews by classifying concentration transactions on the basis of market share. It was indicated in certain articles by anti-monopoly experts that MOFCOM’s first draft of the “Fast-Track” pre-merger rules (“Draft Fast-Track Rules”) would create three separate categories of transactions with different timelines for review based on whether the transaction qualifies as a simple, normal, or important case. It is likely that the Draft Simple Case Standards published by MOFCOM on April 3, 2013 aim to facilitate MOFCOM’s drafting and promulgation of the proposed Draft Fast-Track Rules. However, unlike the first Draft Fast-Track Rules, the Draft Simple Case Standards do not address the standards for normal and important cases but only focus on the standards for simple concentration cases.