CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Yi Xue, Zhong Lun
1. Introduction 1.1 Current Framework for Private Antitrust Litigation The legislative framework for antitrust civil litigation in China can be broadly divided into substantive rules and procedural rules. Substantive Rules Regarding substantive rules, the primary governing law is the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China (AML), which was initially enacted in 2008 and subsequently revised in 2022. The AML provides the foundation for regulating monopolistic practices, including monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant market positions, and concentrations of undertakings that may exclude or restrict competition. Its purpose is to prevent and curb monopolistic behaviours, protect fair competition, and safeguard consumer interests and social public interests. Among the monopolistic practices under regulation, the behaviours subject to antitrust civil litigation primarily include monopoly agreements and abuse of market dominance. In addition to the AML, various supplementary admin - istrative regulations, departmental rules, guidelines and judicial interpretations issued by the State Admin - istration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the national competition authority (NCA) and other relevant gov - ernment departments collectively form the substantive legal framework applicable to antitrust civil litigation. These supplementary documents mainly include the Provisions on Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements (amended in 2025, see 1.2 Recent Developments for the main content of this provision) and the Provisions on Prohibition of Abuse of Market Dominance, as well as the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Monopolistic Con - duct (the “Antitrust Judicial Interpretation”), amended in 2024. Procedural Rules The general civil litigation procedural rules stipulated in the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Civil Procedure Law”) and relevant judi - cial interpretations also apply to antitrust civil litigation cases. Additionally, the Antitrust Judicial Interpretation
has made special provisions for antitrust civil litigation cases regarding jurisdiction rules, burden of proof and
the effectiveness of evidence. 1.2 Recent Developments
In December 2025, SAMR formally released the amended Provisions on Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements (the “Provisions”), which will take effect on 1 February 2026. Centred on refining the regula - tory framework for vertical monopoly agreements, this landmark amendment explicitly clarifies quantitative market share thresholds and statutory applicable con - ditions for exemptible vertical monopoly agreements. The revised Provisions further optimises and systema - tises China’s antitrust regulatory regime, while provid - ing market operators with clear, enforceable compli - ance standards and definitive legal defences against vertical monopoly agreement allegations. The safe harbour rule for vertical monopoly agree - ments was first statutorily established by the 2022 revised AML, which stipulates that a vertical monopoly agreement shall be exempted from prohibition if the participating undertakings can demonstrate that their market shares in the relevant market fall below the thresholds formulated by SAMR and all other statu - tory conditions are satisfied. However, the absence of specific quantitative benchmarks and operational guidelines after the rule’s enactment left the provision overly principled and hardly applicable in practical law enforcement. The 2025 amended Provisions fills this regulatory gap by introducing differentiated, tiered safe harbour crite - ria tailored to two core categories of vertical monop - oly agreements, establishing a clear and unified law enforcement standard. For vertical agreements involving resale price main - tenance (RPM), which are deemed high-risk vertical restraints, the safe harbour exemption applies only when two cumulative conditions are met: all parties to the agreement hold a market share of less than 5% in the relevant market throughout the agreement term, and the annual turnover of the goods covered by the agreement does not exceed CNY100 million.
64 A NTITRUST LI T IGATI O N 2026
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