On The Perfection Of Leniency Program Anti-monopoly Law In China

Competition and monopoly complement each other.Competition not only promotes the progress of the market,but also makes the price more and more close to the cost with the skinny margins.In order to obtain unfair interests,stop or postpone competition between each other,illegal operators have reached a monopoly agreement in a concealed way,which seriously damages the normal market competition and trade,forming a vicious circle of market economy.But the concealment of monopoly agreements makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to detect and investigate.In order to get rid of this dilemma,the monopoly agreement is divided and disintegrated from the inside to initiate the investigation and solve the problem that the law enforcement agencies are difficult to obtain evidence in the process of investigating and dealing with the monopoly agreement.On the basis of economic cost-benefit theory,tolerance theory,good faith principle and other basic theories which provide a good operation for the secret monopoly agreements of Leniency Program can be found effectively to maintain an orderly market competition environment.However,the provisions of the current law on the Leniency Program in China are too general in principle and lack of operability.Although there is no objection to the application of horizontal monopoly agreements to the Leniency Program,there are disputes in practice about the application of vertical monopoly agreements.In addition,due to the different application of the previous multi-level anti-monopoly law enforcement and rules,the setting of forgiveness treatment is not reasonable,and the lack of relevant safeguards,which greatly affected the effect and role of the Leniency Program in the implementation of anti-monopoly law.The Leniency Program initiated by the United States has been flexibly used by many countries in their anti-monopoly implementation,and has been continuously developed and revised on the basis of the American version.China's "Anti-monopoly Law" for the first time provides for the Leniency Program,but the legal provisions of the Leniency Program are also principled,affecting the effective play of the system.The effective implementation of the Leniency Program depends on the rationality and validity of the Leniency Program itself and relevant safeguards.Therefore,we should constantly improve the substantive rules of the Leniency Program,define the scope ofapplication of the Leniency Program,clarify its applicable conditions and the obligations of the applicants of Leniency Program,set up reasonable leniency treatment,and establish automatic leniency system and marker system to promote the application of Leniency Program.A specialized law enforcement team should be set up to raise the level of law enforcement.Rely on the strict and effective law enforcement of anti-monopoly organs deter offenders,urge them to actively apply for leniency.The perfect leniency system plays an important role in the implementation of the anti-monopoly law.