The Regulation Of Antitrust Law Of Loyalty Discounts

Loyalty discounts are often used as instruments of price competition.Operators attract trading counterparts to trade with them through loyalty discounts,firom which trading counterparts can also obtain relatively favorable prices.Therefore,loyalty discounts can bring benefits to both parties.In addition,operators reduce prices and share profits through loyalty discounts,which is helpful to improve economic efficiency.However,under specific market conditions,especially when the operator has market dominance,loyalty discounts may limit market competition.In China's anti-monopoly practice,China's anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies have regulated anti-competitive loyalty discounts in relevant cases.How to distinguish the loyalty discounts from the anti-competition loyalty discounts as a normal business behavior has always been an important problem faced by the competition law enforcement authorities or courts in law enforcement or judicial practice.At present,the theoretical research on loyalty discounts in China is still in the initial stage,and scholars have not reached consensus on the concept and nature of loyalty discounts,and there is also a lack of in-depth discussion on the identification criteria and defense reasons of loyalty discounts.From the perspective of China's practice,in terms of legislation,the existing legal norms do not explicitly stipulate loyalty discounts,and the nature of loyalty discounts is ambiguous.At the level of law enforcement,the law enforcement agencies is lack of relevant practical experience,the identification standards need to be further improved;At the judicial level,China's courts have not tried cases involving loyalty discounts,and the judicial identification standard is not clear.Compared with China,the European Union and the United States have rich theoretical research and law enforcement practices in the regulation of loyalty discounts.They have formed certain review principles,rules and frameworks,and drawing on the use:fful experience of the European Union and the United States regulation of loyalty discounts to improve China's anti-monopoly theory and practice has important theoretical value and practical significance.In the process of perfecting the antitrust law system of loyalty discounts in China,China should take corresponding measures from the aspects of legislation,law enforcement and justice.At the legislative level,the regulation principle of loyalty discounts should be clarified,and the nature of loyalty discounts should be clarified,the defense of loyalty discounts should be clarified,and the safe harbor system should be established;At the law enforcement and judicial levels,we should identify loyalty discounts and general discounts,and standardize the standard of identification.