Research On Competition Policy In China's Free Trade Agreements

The purpose of a free trade agreement is to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers between governments and achieve trade liberalization.However,the existence of anti-competitive behavior hinders the effective play of its efficacy.And competition policy can exert the effect of free trade agreement to a greater extent,so that the results of trade liberalization will not be eroded by anti-competitive behavior.Therefore,competition policy has been included in more and more free trade agreements.Thanks to the wave of economic globalization,the content of competition policies in free trade agreements has been continuously enriched and expanded.Since China joined the WTO,it has also begun to participate extensively in signing free trade agreements,but there is still room for further integration with international rules.On the whole,the free trade agreement signed by China has fewer provisions on competition policy and narrower coverage.This will undoubtedly form a shackle to the development of China's free trade agreement and trade liberalization.At present,the main problems of competition policy in China's free trade agreement are the regulation of state-owned enterprises,anti-competitive behavior and dispute resolution.For these three issues,we can extend our vision to the legal provisions in the competition policy of the USMCA model,the EU model,and the CPTPP model.In terms of the regulations of state-owned enterprises,the USMCA and CPTPP models are too strict,and the EU model by setting exceptions is obviously more in line with China's national conditions.As for anti-competitive behavior,the USMCA and CPTPP models focus on procedural regulations,while the EU model focuses on substantiveregulations,which are more explicit and can achieve better results in specific competition cooperation.In terms of dispute settlement,all three regard consultation as one of the most important methods for resolving disputes.At the same time,USMCA and CPTPP also include some disputes in the competition policy into the scope of application of general dispute resolution mechanisms.China is accelerating the implementation of the free trade zone strategy,realizing a new round of opening to the outside world,and the importance of accelerating the study of relevant rules of free trade agreements is self-evident.Based on the current problems,China can develop and improve competition policies that conform to China 's own goals and characteristics on the basis of drawing on other international free trade agreement competition policy models.First of all,on the regulation of state-owned enterprises,the provision of exception clauses and transitional clauses provides time guarantee for the reform of state-owned enterprises in China.Secondly,adopt substantive regulations to regulate anti-competitive behaviors,strengthen the application of domestic laws and regulations,and at the same time strengthen the exchange and cooperation of all parties to promote mutual recognition and coordination of competition policies.Finally,on the basis of insisting on the use of consultation,non-adversarial mechanisms are introduced to facilitate the settlement of competition policy disputes.