Anti-Monopoly Regulation On Behavior Of Restrictive Competition Of TradeAssociation

Trade association refers to an autonomous social group which is nonprofit and builton common interest，consisting of business operators from one industry who join theassociation voluntarily. Since the launch of reform and open-up policy, trade associationshave played an important role in self management, providing trade services andcoordinating relationship between operators from one industry. However, influenced by itsown limitations and its members’ common interest, trade associations always commitactions to restrict competition, such as fixing price, restricting quantities, segmentingmarkets, boycott, information exchange and standardization certification, which disturb theorder of fair competition. In practice, the frequent occurrence of trade-associations-ledevents that restrict competition owes much to the simpleness of relevant provisions ofAnti-Monopoly Law concerning trade associations. Thus, improvement should be made asfollows. Firstly, criteria for confirming the principle of reasonableness, which is a generalrule to recognize illegality, should be more concrete. Secondly, the range of subjectsbearing legal responsibilities should be expanded to individual members of tradeassociations and decision-making organs. Finally, we should perfect provisions onadministrative responsibilities and civil responsibilities，and criminal responsibilities andliability exemption system should also be included in Anti-Monopoly Regulations againsttrade associations’behavior of restricting competition...