The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement Wednesday with China’s three antitrust agencies that promises greater cooperation in reviewing mergers, exchanging information and commenting on proposed regulation.
Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney and FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz signed the antitrust memorandum with three other Chinese antitrust authorities: Goa Hucheng, China International Trade Representative and vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, Peng Sen, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission and Zhong Youping, vice minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
“Our cooperative relationship with the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has steadily strengthened,” Varney said in a statement. “This memorandum of understanding is a reflection of that relationship, and, by establishing a framework for enhanced cooperation among our agencies, the MOU also allows us to move to the next chapter in our collaboration on competition law and policy matters.”
The agreement resembles a two-decades old agreement between the U.S. and European antitrust enforcers. The agencies have also signed a similar agreement with Russia in 2009 and are drafting another with Indian authorities.
China’s antitrust law came into effect just three years ago in August 2008. And many in the business community have voiced concerns that, as emerging economies establish antitrust regimes, foreign regulators could use competition laws to promote their own trade interests.
In a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, Varney said that these agreements would help assuage those concerns.
“An MOU among competition agencies will not cure this problem, but it is a first step,” Varney said Friday. “These are our stepping stones to get us further along the line of a universal commitment to procedural fairness, due process and transparency.”
The agreement does not alter existing laws in either country.
