Research On The Regulation Of Trade Association Information Exchange Behavior Under Anti-Monopoly Law

We have entered the21st century, an information-booming and-sharing era. How much information is acquired becomes the key for enterprises to win or lose.It is because of the fundamental role of information in the modern society that more and more people use information to interfere in competition, disturbing sound development of the market economy.Industrial associations are the third force in the modern society, which was born under the circumstance of market failure and government failure and has been playing an increasingly important role.Like any other thing, industrial associations also have a dual nature.They can also fail like markets or governments while functioning.The most important function of industrial associations is to collect and release information, and that is why they have been called "information base". Information exchange of industrial associations can provide for their member enterprises opportunities to share information so that adjustments in management can be made to prepare for competition in market and lower risks of operation.However, information exchange of industrial associations can also be detrimental to competition; it may restrict or hinder effective competition. Information exchange of industrial associations may involve sensitive information like prices and markets, but the exchange of price information is extremely prone to price collusion, which entails fixed prices and restricts competition.Nevertheless, the present legislation in China does not have detailed explicit regulations on information exchange of industrial associations except some stray items on the competition-restricting behaviour of industrial associations, which is evidently imperfection of the present legal system.For this reason and based on the general theories of industrial associations’ information exchange, the author researches on its anti-monopoly regulations.The author first discusses the concepts of industrial associations and their information exchange;then analyses the illegality judging of industrial associations’information exchange, mainly introducing "the Per Se Illegality Principle" and "the Rule of Reason".In the following chapter, the author discusses laws in major countries on industrial associations’information exchange, through the comparative study of which, the author hopes to guide the legislative improvement of China in this respect. In the end, the author analyses China’s present legislation on industrial associations’information exchange and proposes her suggestions for legislative improvement.