Author
Assoc Prof Jingmeng CAI
Organisation/Institution
Beijing University of Chemical Technology, College of Arts and Law
Country
CHINA
Panel
Competition Law
Title
China’s Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement in the Digital Era: Transplantation vs. Localization
Abstract
The US and EU competition law were the two most influential references during China’s long gestation period of the Antimonopoly Law (“the AML”). On the one hand, advanced foreign antitrust enforcers and international organizations made a great effort to exert pressure and sought to influence the AML from the general conception to specific provisions of law. On the other hand, the massive legal transplantation in a relatively short time would inevitably cause cognitive and systematic confusion. How well did Chinese enforcers comprehend these terminologies and theories? How would Chinese domestic factors colour and tone the perception of foreign law? In the context of the digital economy, which is regarded as a key force to restructure the global market and reshape the global competition pattern, problems arising from the legal transplantation and localization become more protruding. This article includes three parts. The first part sketches a clear picture of the current China’s AML regulatory regime over the digital market, which consists of the latest statutory texts and departmental regulations, especially the changes in the newly amended AML. The second part identifies foreign factors that have shaped the AML, and it discusses conflicts and confusion due to the legal transplantation. The AML enforcement over monopolistic agreements in the digital market, for example, is a typical area where has revealed such confusion, which is due to the mingling with theories of the US antitrust law and conceptions under the EU competition law. The third part points out how the domestic factors, such as China’s digital market’s traits, industrial policy, traditional regulatory mindsets, and competition cultural, have modelled China’s AML regime in the digital era. Also, they lead to the “rejection reactions” to certain foreign imported mechanisms. The fourth part intends to find suggestions and solutions for China to address these challenges.
Biography
Jingmeng CAI is an Associate Professor at Law and Literature Institute, Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT). She received her S.J.D. (Ph.D. in Law) and LL.M. (Master of Law) from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in the United States, and her B.A. and LL.M. from China University of Political Science and Law(CUPL). She had internships at US Federal Trade Commission and United Nations as well as working experience at an international law firm. Her scholarly research and teaching interests are primarily in the areas of antitrust/competition law. She has published dozens of articles related to competition law in both International and Chinese law renowned journals, and translated academic articles and books from English to Chinese. Her research project about China’s Fair Competition Review System has been supported by Beijing Social Science Fund. In recent, her research focus is about enforcing the anti-monopoly law in the digital economy. Now, she is writing an English monograph about that topic and will be published by Routledge soon. Moreover, she has been invited to present at 15th, 16th, 18th, and 21st ASLI annual meetings about her research work.
