China: China State Administration for Market Supervision fines companies for failing to declare corporate acquisitions

On 20 November 2021, China’s State Administration for Market Supervision (SAMR) fined several companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Baidu, for failing to declare some of their corporate acquisitions. SAMR investigated the corporate acquisitions which took place during the past few years and found that the entities violated Article 21 of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, which entered into force on 1 August 2008. According to the law, a company must declare in advance to the competent authority if the intended acquisition reaches the threshold level set by the State Council, and in the absence of such declaration, it shall refrain from implementing concentration undertakings. However, AMR noted that the inquiry into the corporate acquisitions determined that they did not have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition. In regard to the failure to report concentration undertakings, the agency imposed administrative penalties on each violation pursuant to Articles 48 and 49 of the Anti-Monopoly Law amounting to 500,000 yuan (around €71,000/$80,000) on the enterprises involved. In total, 43 mergers cases were sanctioned by SAMR.