Merger Filings
In 2024, the team handled merger filings in China for a wide array of domestic and global transactions across numerous key industries, including digital economy, pharmaceuticals, automotive, shipping, energy, chemicals, finance, machinery, and manufacturing. For instance, we successfully assisted our client in swiftly obtaining antitrust approval for the acquisition of a pharmaceutical equity stake by Yaoshibang, which marked the largest market-driven M&A transaction in the Hong Kong-listed internet healthcare sector in the past three years.
We are gratified that over the past year, our team members' efficient work ethic and professional competence have been highly recognized by numerous domestic and international clients, motivating us to continue creating value for our clients.
Implementation of Restrictive Conditions
Over the year, the team continued to fulfill its trustee duties in overseeing the compliance with restrictive conditions in three remedy cases, spanning sectors such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
On top of that, we have been helping clients in three other remedy cases involving the aviation and chemical industries, to actively cooperate with the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and the monitoring trustees in their supervisory processes. While ensuring the smooth implementation of restrictive conditions and safeguarding fair market competition, the team also demonstrated its capability in managing high-profile and complex mergers.
Antitrust and Unfair Competition Litigation
In 2024, we continued to make significant strides in dispute resolution in the field of competition law.
This year, the team represented clients in nearly 30 antitrust and unfair competition litigation cases. Domestic cases were heard before numerous intellectual property courts/tribunals across cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an, Haikou, Harbin, Changchun, Yinchuan, Ningbo, and Wuhan, as well as the Supreme Court of the PRC. Our clients span a diverse range of sectors, including digital economy, finance, consumer goods, electronics, express delivery, infrastructure, and chemicals. The cases we handled encompass both antitrust civil litigations and antitrust administrative litigations. These involve behaviors that were frequently disputed such as horizontal and vertical monopoly agreements, abuse of market dominance, as well as new types of antitrust cases related to merger control.
Additionally, the team has achieved notable success in cross-border antitrust litigations and dispute resolution, deeply engaging in multiple international antitrust disputes, including class actions in the United States and arbitrations in Singapore.
Antitrust Investigation
In 2024, thanks to the trust of clients, the team assisted in responding to 8 antitrust investigation cases. These included 1 case involving gun-jumping, 5 cases involving horizontal monopoly agreements, and 2 cases related to abuse of market dominance. Throughout the process, the team helped clients gain a deeper understanding of the specific requirements of antitrust law on the everyday business, thereby enhancing their antitrust compliance levels.
Competition Law Compliance
Against the backdrop of China's active promotion of competition compliance and strengthened ex-ante regulation, we are pleased to see a growing number of domestic and international enterprises placing importance on establishing and improving competition compliance systems.
Over the past year, the team has provided services to numerous companies across various sectors, including digital economy, consumer goods, new energy, petrochemicals, food, pharmaceuticals, insurance, automotive, aviation, and public utilities. These services include conducting competition compliance due diligence, performing competition law risk assessments, building antitrust compliance systems, drafting antitrust compliance manuals and guidelines, embedding competition compliance requirements into business workflows, designing competition compliance programs, providing competition compliance training, and preparing internal competition law learning materials. These initiatives helped clients effectively prevent and control antitrust risks in advance.
Government Support
In 2024, the team continued to actively support the work of enforcement agencies. Specifically, the team represented market regulation authorities in defending nine antitrust administrative litigation cases in total and actively contributed opinions and suggestions to the development of supplementary antitrust regulations and guidelines.
Furthermore, our Partner Dr. Hao ZHAN continued to serve as an expert in the antitrust expert pools of the Administration for Market Regulation of Beijing and Shandong and was additionally appointed this year as an expert for the antitrust expert pools of the Administration for Market Regulation of Liangning and Jiangsu. Our Partner Dr. Ying SONG also continued to serve as an expert in the antitrust expert pools of Beijing Administration for Market Regulation, consistently contributing to the development of provincial market regulation departments.
Communication and Outreach
In 2024, both international and domestic competition law conferences remained highly active, and the team actively participated in these events.
Notable conferences in which the team engaged and contributed include, but are not limited to, the 2024 Asia Competition Association (ACA) Annual Meeting, EverPro's "Legal and Compliance Outlook for the Year, Closed-Door Discussion", the "Rule of Law Protection—Legal Advisory Committee of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese in Action" online conference, the "2024 Shanghai·CBLJ Forum", and the annual conference of Beijing Digital Economy and Digital Governance Rule of Law Research Forum.
On the global stage, our Partner Dr. Hao ZHAN, as the Ambassador and Vice Chair of the ICC China Competition Commission, delivered keynote speeches at several major international conferences. He introduced recent developments and trends in China's antitrust legislation, judiciary, and enforcement practices, shared deep insights on the impact of global antitrust regulation on competitive landscapes, and engaged in in-depth discussions with antitrust experts from various jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union, Singapore, and South Korea.
Publications
In 2024, our team continued to contribute articles to renowned publications in the field of competition law, both in China and globally, with the aim of sharing China's antitrust enforcement and judicial practices and the team's insights to the widest possible audience.
For example, our English articles, The Value and Significance of the Rare Earth Antitrust Litigation — At the Juncture of the Supreme Court Judgment and The Boundary of AML's Application in the Intellectual Property Realm, were nominated for the 2025 Antitrust Writing Awards by the internationally recognized journal Concurrences. We were also invited to contribute exclusively to the Legal 500 Comparative Guide on Competition Litigation, wrote feature articles for the internationally recognized journal, the Competition Policy International (CPI), and were invited to write for Thomson Reuters Practical Law on topics such as "China Competition Law and IP Licensing" and "China Antitrust Civil Litigation".
Additionally, our team published a series of analytical articles after the release of new regulations, including the Provisions on the Standards for Merger Filings (2024 Revision), the Interim Provisions on Internet Unfair Competition, the Antitrust Compliance Guidelines for Operators, the Antitrust Guidelines for the Pharmaceutical Sector (Draft for Comments), the Discretionary Standards for Administrative Penalties for Violations of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments), and the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation and its associated provisions.
For years, our team has been publishing the latest competition law news, enforcement decisions, judicial rulings, and academic and practical articles and videos daily via our WeChat public account "Competition Law Bulletin" (see the QR code below). We aim to create an academic and professional platform for antitrust knowledge sharing.
Awards and Honors
In 2024, AnJie Broad Antitrust Practice continued to receive widespread recognition from authoritative institutions both domestically and internationally.
The firm was honored with the following awards: The Legal 500's "Antitrust and Competition Law Firm of the Year", LEGANLBAND's "Top Ranked Law Firms: Band1", Asialaw's "Outstanding Law Firm in Competition Law", the China Business Law Awards 2024 (Competition and Antitrust), and Mondaq's "2024 Thought Leadership Award".
Partner Dr. Hao ZHAN was recognized as "China's Leading Antitrust/Competition Lawyer" by Chambers & Partners and LEGANLBAND and was listed as a "Leading Antitrust/Competition Lawyer in China" by The Legal 500 and Who's Who Legal. He was also named "Distinguished Lawyer" by Falaohui. Partner Dr. Ying SONG was named a "Recommended Antitrust/Competition Lawyer in China" by Chambers & Partners, Who's Who Legal, The Legal 500 and was recognized as “Client Choice: Top 15 Competition Lawyers” by LEGANLBAND and was recognized as a "Notable Practitioner in Competition Law" by Asialaw. Team lawyer Libo ZHU was named a "Recommended Antitrust/Competition Lawyer in China" by The Legal 500.
Additionally, it is worth noting that Dr. Hao ZHAN also serves as the Vice President of the Beijing Digital Economy and Digital Governance Rule of Law Research Association and continues to serve as the Ambassador for the ICC Competition Commission in China, bridging the communication and exchange of competition law between China and the world.
Acknowledgements
In 2024, thanks to the hard work of all our lawyers, legal assistants, interns, and administrative staff, the team has been able to continuously create value for our clients and the entire field of competition law. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to every team member and hope they can take pride in the accomplishments we have achieved together. We also deeply appreciate the support from our fellow lawyers. Close communication with colleagues from jurisdictions such as the United States, the European Union, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern countries has enabled us to provide more comprehensive and high-quality services to our global clients. Furthermore, our friendly cooperation with other Chinese lawyers has allowed us to offer more complete and precise services to our clients. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients, antitrust enforcement agencies, judges, and scholars for their continued guidance, support, and attention. Your contributions have provided our team with invaluable opportunities and motivation to continually learn and advance.
Standing at the starting point of the new year in 2025, AnJie Broad will continue to provide top-tier antitrust legal services to our clients, sharing our practical experience, and contributing to the development of the entire competition law field. We sincerely appreciate your ongoing support, and the AnJie Broad Antitrust Team looks forward to reconnecting with you in the hopeful year of 2025!
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