CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Yi Xue, Zhong Lun
hear the appeals of the civil monopoly cases whose first-instance trial has been concluded.
• Attention to high-risk industries and fields ‒ during the 2025 Intellectual Property Publicity Week, the Intellectual Property Court of the SPC stated that, going forward, the SPC will continue to focus on anti-monopoly cases in areas such as internet plat - forms, technological innovation, IP, public welfare, industry associations, natural monopoly industries, and abuse of administrative power. • Projected growth in follow-on litigation cases – the New Judicial Interpretation explicitly stipulates the evidential effect of antitrust administrative penalty decisions in follow-on litigation cases, significantly lightening the burden of proof on the plaintiff in such litigation. It is reasonable to anticipate a growth in the number of follow-on anti-monopoly litigation cases in the future. • Exploring the public interest litigation system – since the 2022 amendment to the AML formally incorporated the anti-monopoly public interest litigation system, the Supreme People’s Procura - torate has, through procuratorial supervision and initiating anti-monopoly public interest lawsuits in multiple anti-monopoly cases, curbed and rectified monopolistic behaviours that might harm public interests.
13. Looking Forward 13.1 Legislative Trends and Other Developments
With the New Judicial Interpretation formally taking effect on 1 July 2024, China’s antitrust legal framework and specific rules have been basically established. It is thus foreseeable that there will be no legislative plans related to antitrust litigation in the short term. From the perspective of judicial practice, antitrust liti - gation cases in China have shown a marked growth trend in recent years. Courts at all levels are stepping up efforts to enhance the efficiency of antitrust judicial trials, keeping antitrust litigation activities vibrant. • Focus on public welfare sectors – on 11 Septem - ber 2024, the SPC released four model antitrust litigation cases involving industries directly related to public welfare, including catering, digital televi - sion, civil natural gas, and vegetable wholesale. In the rulings on these cases, the courts emphasised the significance of safeguarding public interests and social welfare against harm caused by monop - olistic practices.
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