A Comparative Study And Reference On The Antimonopoly Regulation Of Concentration In EU And US

Nowadays in the process of international economic development, the concentration of enterprises is one of the most important ways to upgrade the industrial structure, restructure the assets, reasonably utilize the resource and promote the market competitiveness for every country. However, the over concentration of enterprises will decrease the number of competitors in the market and change the market structure which may result in the restriction and impairment of effective competition. Most counties in the world regulate the concentration of enterprises through antimonopoly laws and China has also recently promulgated the antimonopoly law of which the regulation of concentration is one important part. However there were no systematic laws regulating concentration of enterprises in China for a long time so that both the laws and experience of the execution of such laws are backward. The European Union and the United States has developed comprehensive law systems concerning the antimonopoly regulation on concentration of enterprises. Through the comparative study on the two most basic part of their merger control laws, i.e. the substantive standard and procedural regulation, the author tries to draw some advanced common experience to further perfect the relevant legislation in China.There are 4 chapters in the paper. Chapter One is the overview of the law system in respect of merger control, which briefly introduces the relevant legislations and historical process of antimonopoly regulation on concentration and sets forth the basis of analysis of specific questions in the following chapters.Chapter Two and Chapter Three are the key points of this paper which carry out the full comparative study on the antimonopoly supervision on concentration in EU and US from the aspect of substantive standard and procedural regulation. Chapter Two is the comparison of substantive standard in the merger control in EU and US. The author firstly introduces and explains the meaning of the standard of Substantial Lessening of Competition in the US, focusing on the application of the standard; then introduces the historical evolution of the substantive standard in EU and analyzes the reasons of the evolution and the characteristics of the standard of Substantially Impair Effective Competition; finally compares the substantive standards in EU and US and draws the conclusion that the substantive standards are in the trend of assimilation though there still exists some differences. Chapter Three is the comparison of procedural regulations in EU and US. The structure of this chapter is the same as Chapter Two except that the comparison is specified in the antimonopoly enforcement authority and the detailed procedure of antimonopoly regulation of concentration.Chapter Four is the analysis and comments on the current legislation of antimonopoly regulation of concentration in China on the basis of the above comparison of that in EU and US. The author affirms the positive parts in the substantive standard and procedural regulation, meanwhile points out the defects in the current laws which still need to be improved with reference to the advanced legislation in EU and US upon the special conditions in China.