CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yi Xue, Zhong Lun
Focus on monopoly cases in public welfare sectors Since 2023, China’s antitrust law enforcement authori - ties have carried out specialised antitrust law enforce - ment operations in sectors relating to public welfare, while judicial authorities have also prioritised improv - ing trial efficiency in anti-monopoly cases in these sec - tors. All four typical antitrust litigation cases released by the SPC on 11 September 2024 fall within public welfare sectors, covering industries such as catering, digital television, natural gas, and vegetable whole - sale. These cases are directly tied to public interests and social welfare. During the trials, the courts ordered the cessation of the alleged monopolistic conduct and awarded corre - sponding compensation to enterprises or individuals harmed by such behaviour. This not only safeguards public interests and social welfare from the adverse impacts of monopolistic conduct but also strength - ens the role of judicial proceedings in maintaining fair market order in these critical sectors. Recognition of administrative penalty decision as evidence in follow-on litigation For the first time, the New Judicial Interpretation explicitly clarifies the evidential effect of anti-monop - oly administrative penalty decisions in follow-on litiga - tion cases initiated by enterprises or individuals that have been harmed by monopolistic conduct investi - gated and penalised by the antitrust law enforcement authority. Article 10 provides that, where the admin - istrative decision of the antitrust law enforcement authority confirming the existence of monopolistic conduct has not been challenged in administrative litigation within the statutory period or has been con - firmed by an effective court ruling, and the plaintiff in a related civil monopoly litigation case claims that the basic facts determined in the administrative deci - sion are true, the plaintiff is not required to adduce evidence to prove such fact ‒ unless there is sufficient evidence to the contrary. In previous civil monopoly litigation cases, plaintiffs were bound by the fundamental burden-of-proof prin - ciple that “the party who claims must prove”, placing an enormous evidentiary burden on them. Owing to the difficulty of proving covert monopolistic conduct
Anti-Monopoly Litigation in China in 2025 The Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Monopolistic Conduct (the “New Judicial Interpretation”), formulated and promulgated by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (SPC), came into force on 1 July 2024. The New Judicial Interpretation intro - duces comprehensive and systematic regulations on the trial of antitrust civil litigation cases from both a procedural and substantive perspective, providing unified applicable rules and guidance for the courts and civil subjects participating in antitrust civil litiga - tion process. With the improvement of the legal framework and applicable rules, the number of monopoly-related dis - pute cases in China has shown a significant growth trend in recent years. According to data released by the SPC, from the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of the SPC on 1 January 2019 to the end of December 2024, the court accepted 282 sec - ond-instance civil and administrative cases involving monopolistic conduct (and concluded 243 of them). Among these, 97 cases were concluded in 2024, with the court determining the alleged conduct to consti - tute monopolistic conduct in 17 cases ‒ representing a 460% year-on-year increase. From a nationwide perspective, courts at all levels enhanced efficiency in the trial of antitrust litigation cases in 2024, with 31 cases determined to constitute monopolies (a 210% year-on-year rise). In order to give full play to the guiding role of typical cases, ensure the correct application of the amended Anti-Monopoly Law, and accurately grasp the key points of the New Judicial Interpretation, the SPC released two batches of nine typical antitrust cases on 25 June 2024 and 11 September 2024 respec - tively. Although judicial precedents are not a formal source of law in China and thus not directly binding on subsequent litigation cases, these typical cases reflect the SPC’s interpretation and understanding of anti-monopoly laws and rules ‒ making them highly valuable for reference in judicial practice.
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