Author
Prof Sandra Marco Colino
Organisation/Institution
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Country
HONG KONG (SAR OF CHINA)
Panel
Competition Law
Title
Competition Law and Sustainability Concerns in Asia
Abstract
The question of whether antitrust law should address ecological issues has become a central debate in competition policy around the world. On one hand, antitrust enforcement could have indirect positive effects on the environment. Penalizing companies that collude to restrict access to sustainable products or hinder green innovation would protect competition and at the same time boost sustainability. On the other hand, a more prominent concern is that current antitrust rules may be preventing businesses from collaborating on environmental grounds. This has led some experts to argue that antitrust law has a "sustainability deficit". There have been calls for relaxing the rules to allow for environmental collaborations. This article explores how Asian antitrust jurisdictions are coming to terms with the prominence of sustainability as a critical goal of the legal system. It argues that significant progress has been made when it comes to making exceptions for green agreements. China is one of the few jurisdictions to have a sustainability exception in its basic competition legislation, even if it has never been invoked in litigation. Australia and Japan recently drafted related guidelines, with the former showing a willingness to clear a merger that could be environmentally beneficial despite concerns about its effects on competition. Less progress has been made, however, in the enforcement of the law with a view to attaining positive environmental externalities. Drawing on international experience, the article examines recent cases in Asia and proposes a path for a more sustainable antitrust enforcement strategy.
Biography
Sandra Marco Colino is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She specialises in competition law, merger control, technology law, and sustainability. She currently serves as Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network, and sits on the Scientific Committee of the European University Institute’s Centre for a Digital Society. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, she was a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow (UK). Prof. Marco Colino holds a PhD from the EUI (Italy) and an LLM from the University Carlos III (Spain). A qualified lawyer in Spain and a member of the Madrid Bar, she has worked as stagiaire at the European Commission (Belgium) and has trained in various Madrid law firms. She is a member of the Academic Society for Competition Law, a Fellow of the Transatlantic Technology Law Forum of Stanford University (USA), and an Associate Researcher at the Royal University Institute for European Studies in Madrid. She sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Competition Law and Economics (OUP) and is the Hong Kong news correspondent to the European Competition Law Review. Her award-winning research has been extensively published in leading peer-reviewed journals and US law reviews. She is the author of various books, including Competition Law of the EU and UK (Oxford University Press) and Vertical Agreements and Competition Law (Hart). Her recognitions include the Research Excellence Award (CUHK, 2025), three Antitrust Writing Awards (2025 and 2018), the Young Researcher Award (CUHK, 2021), the Award for High-Impact in Legal Scholarship (CUHK, 2020), the Academic Excellence Award (Global Competition Review, 2020), the Antitrust Writing Award (Concurrences, 2018), the award for best paper and presentation (Georgetown University’s Center for German and European Studies, 2004), and the Teaching Excellence Award (CUHK, 2017).
