Jones Day White Paper: China Amends Anti-Monopoly Law: What You Need to Know

In late June 2022, the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee adopted the First Amendments to China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”). The amendments will take effect on August 1, 2022. Although the First Amendments to the AML (the “Amendments”) are far from a complete overhaul of China’s antitrust laws, they introduce new approaches for resale price maintenance and hub-and-spoke agreements, a market share-based safe harbor for vertical agreements, strengthened enforcement against internet platforms, a “stop-the-clock” mechanism in merger review, a new criminal violation, and increased fines and broadened liability for violations, among others.