A Study On Leniency Policy In Anti-monopoly

It is generally believed that cartel is one of the most anti-competitive practice. Cartel artificially limits the competition that would normally prevail between them, obstructs the development of economy, injuries the welfare of consumer. Leniency policy in anti-monopoly is an effective tool in cartel regulation which can play an important role in cracking cartel activity and promoting the efficiency of cartel detection. Leniency policy in anti-monopoly refers to such a system that if the companies involved in cartel or the related individuals take the initiative to the anti-trust authorities with disclosure of related evidence or provide related information and cooperation by the anti-trust authority can reduce or exempt the penalty, in order to encourage the companies and the individuals involved in cartel to report the cartel activity so that the anti-trust authorities can easily discover, investigate and crack the illegal cartel. So far the United States, the European Union, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea and China etc. introduced the leniency policy in anti-monopoly against the cartel. The leniency policy in anti-monopoly has been introduced in Anti-monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, but the article 46,item 2 is too abstract too practice. So the article, at the foundation of the domestic and foreign information, uses the research techniques which include induction, comparative research technique, law and economy research technique, law interpretation to explicate and research the general theory of the leniency policy in anti-monopoly, foreign leniency policy in anti-monopoly and the excellent experiences, a lot of problems of leniency policy's practice in China, wishing to find out methods to perfect the leniency policy in anti-monopoly.The full text divides into four parts, according to the legal concept analysis-law characteristic induction-theory foundation proof-foreign country experience-real diagnosis barrier analysis-institution design to launch the elaboration.The first part simply demonstrates the two characters: monopoly and leniency policy in anti-monopoly, in order to gain a rough knowledge of the text's major idea and thereby to establish essential notion basis before further discussion in the text.The second part, first inspects the concept of leniency policy in anti-monopoly in domestic and foreign, and explains the features concretely that are gaining cartel illegal information by low costs, reducing or exempting legal responsibility, definiteness and confidentiality, which are the foundation of leniency policy in anti-monopoly; next according to economic and legal science analyses leniency policy in anti-monopoly to find out the theory necessity proof; finally under the theory explanation elaborates the preconditions which can make leniency policy in anti-monopoly more effectively and efficiently, that are the threat of severe sanctions, great investigated risk by anti-authority, transparency and foresight in enforcement policies.The third part mainly expounds international experiences of leniency policy in anti-monopoly, which heckles leniency policy in anti-monopoly of the United States, the European Union, Japan, South korea, and then summarizes advanced experiences which are worthy of learning, that are marker, different treatment to different applicant, the amnesty plus carrot and penalty plus, confidentiality.The four part puts emphasis on perfection of the leniency policy in anti-monopoly in China. Firstly, it explains the current condition by positive analysis, and then realizes the disadvantage such as several anti-monopoly authorities, insufficient public law responsibility, lack of detailed rules and maneuverability. Then according to problems to find apt and specific ways to solve problems, it gives the advises to perfect leniency policy in anti-monopoly from procedural rules and substance rules.