Anti-monopoly Regulation Of Tying Arrangement In Automobile Aftermarket

As one of the important components of the "economic constitution",Anti-monopoly Law prohibits the operators from implementing the tying behavior with the effect of eliminating and restricting competition.In practice,suppliers and authorized dealers and repairers in the industry of exclusive brands conduct mandatory tying in the automotive aftermarket.The selling goods are automotive original brand accessories,and the tying products are the service for after-sales maintenance.This situation not only directly damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers,but also has a serious negative effect on the fair competition and the interests of other operators in the after-sales market.The tying arrangement in the after-sales market of the automotive industry is a typical tying behavior,which includes all the constitutive elements of the tying.At the same time,it is a special kind of tying behavior.There is no effective existing anti-monopoly legal system.So it is pressing to ameliorate the Anti-Monopoly Law and its supporting rules.There are various of challenges in the anti-monopoly legal regulation in the tying arrangement in the after-sales market of the automotive industry,which are reflected in many aspects,including the legal concurrence between vertical monopoly agreements and the abuse of market dominance,and the market position of authorized dealers and repairers.Apart from these,the division of monopoly responsibility between branded automobile suppliers and authorized dealers and repairers under the commercial franchise model as well as whether such tying arrangements can be applied to the exemption of legitimate reasons in the antitrust law are two kinds of legal dilemmas.These problems not only appear in the tying arrangements in the automotive after-sales market,but also may be hidden in the tying phenomenon of other industries.And the tying arrangements have not yet been properly regulated by China's Anti-Monopoly Law.Therefore,it is urgent to expound and perfect the anti-monopoly laws and regulations and its tying rules as well as the supplemented industry laws.