Home / Asia-Pacific / China / Antitrust, Competition & Trade

Antitrust, Competition and Trade in China

We cover every area of Antitrust, Competition and Trade law

The CMS Antitrust, Competition and Trade (ACT) group is one of the largest specialist competition and trade teams in the world. More than 225 CMS experts advise clients in more than 40 countries worldwide on all ACT matters. Our Chinese team is part of the fully integrated CMS global team, spread out across our offices in Shanghai and Beijing.

Due to our size and very wide footprint, we are able to deal with all ACT matters irrespective of their geographic dimension. Where necessary we cooperate with long established contacts from our wider network of law firms everywhere in the world.

We are specialists across the full range of Antitrust, Competition and Trade matters. We have expert sub-groups specialising in specific areas within the wider competition and trade field, e.g. FDI/Foreign investment screening. We are also well-known as experts in various sectors of the economy. Our renowned sector specialisation encompasses automotive, consumer products/FMCG, construction, digital economy, energy/oil & gas, life sciences, telecommunications/media and transport to name but a few.

Our clients range from many very large multinationals who frequently use our team as their ACT law firm of choice for the entire region (e.g., in Greater China), to governments at all levels and also a high number of medium-sized companies.

We use the most up-to-date technical and AI tools to support our business in China and abroad.

We put out regular case law updates on Chinese, European and international competition and trade developments on our Law Now service.  Our group is steered, not just by a management committee of partners but also by an active associates’ group that keeps us innovating to serve clients.

Choose area

Abuse of dominance and economic dependence
Competitive conduct of companies with a strong market position is subject to increasing scrutiny and may lead to unwanted regulatory intervention, hig
Competition and cartel investigations
Companies should be alive to the possibility of investigations and fines for anti-competitive behaviour. We defend our clients in cartel and other reg
Compliance
We provide day to day advice in all competition law matters to help clients avoid any conflicts with competition laws. We work closely with our expert
Digital markets
CMS is widely recognised as a leader in providing legal advice to clients from the digital and technology markets. We help companies avoid regulatory
Foreign investment screening
Our broad footprint with CMS offices in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America combined with a very wide network of long-established contacts across a
Horizontal agreements
The line between admissible conduct and infringement can be thin. Our specialists’ expertise covers the full range of horizontal cooperation or
Merger Control
We have a long and extensive track record of advising clients on merger control requirements and representing them in merger control proceedings. Each
Private enforcement
Our extensive experience across many cases gives clients confidence in achieving a satisfactory outcome in follow-on actions and other competition-rel
Regulatory
Companies in regulated industries are under constant scrutiny over anti-competitive behaviour. With our in-depth sector specific competition law exper
Trade law and sanctions
In an increasingly challenging international business world, we help companies to remain compliant and keep supply chains moving. With export control
Unfair trading practices (UTP)
We are at the forefront of advising clients in the field of unfair trading practices which is a relatively new field of law in many countries. Whether
Vertical agreements
We give clients confidence in their relationships with suppliers, resellers and customers, online and offline. By reviewing their distribution systems

Feed

12/03/2024
After EU Commission's first decision on Carbon Contracts for Difference,...
The European Commission approved the first Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfD) scheme under the new Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy 2022 (CEEAG).Fol­low­ing the...
27/10/2023
SPC Case Reveals its Practice in Hearing Antitrust Cases
On 14 September 2023, the PRC Supreme People's Court (“SPC”) issued the 2023 People's Courts' Typical Anti-Monopoly Cases and Anti-Unfair Competition Cases.A total of five anti-monopoly cases were...
17/08/2023
Chinese Central Government Further Promotes Foreign Investments
On 13 August 2023, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) released its Opinions on Further Optimizing Foreign Investment Environment and Reinforcing the Efforts to Attract...
09/08/2023
Stricter Liability Risks for Corruption in China due to Amendments of PRC...
The Chinese regulator, the Fourth Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), has most recently examined the Draft Amendments...
07/08/2023
SAMR to Overhaul the Rules on Prohibition of Abuse of IPRs
Enforcement of competition law in the field of intellectual property rights ("IPRs") has been considered by the Chinese anti-monopoly enforcement authorities as an important factor to maintain market...
26/06/2023
CMS Wins Eight China Business Law Awards 2023
We are pleased to announce that CMS has won China Business Law Awards 2023 in the following eight cat­egor­ies:Com­pet­i­tion and Antitrust 竞争及反垄断Em­ploy­ment & Labour 雇佣及劳动法IP (Trademark)...
11/05/2023
SAMR - New Rules on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements
The Provisions on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements (the "Provisions") are one of the four supporting regulations to the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML 2022") recently issued by the State Ad­min­is­tra­tion...
19/04/2023
Overview on the Provisions on the Review of Concentration of Undertakings
Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") issued four long-awaited supporting regulations to the PRC Anti-monopoly Law ("AML 2022") on merger control review, prohibition of monopoly...
16/02/2023
Foreign subsidies control creates a burdensome merger control 3.0
Foreign subsidies controls have the potential to create an additional burdensome clearance procedure for M&A transactions on top of merger and investment control procedures:  High administrative burdens...
19/12/2022
2023 – Topics that may Concern You
2022 has been a challenging year. In addition to the continuing impact of COVID-19 and the recent relaxation measures in China, the war in Ukraine has also brought impacts on society, politics and businesses...
19/07/2022
Overview on the Provisions on Clear Price Marking and Prohibition of Price...
On 1 July 2022 the Provisions on Clear Price Marking and Prohibition of Price Fraud ("Provisions") promulgated by the State Administration for Market Regulation took effect. The Provisions have replaced...
04/07/2022
The PRC Anti-Monopoly Law Further Amended
On 24 June 2022, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the Decision to Amend the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML 2022”). The AML 2022 will come into force on 1 August 2022. During...