CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Liu Cheng, Li Yumeng, Ye Hongtao and Jiang Hanxue, King & Wood
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1. Legislation and Enforcing Authorities 1.1 Merger Control Legislation The Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China (AML), effective as of 1 August 2008, as amended on 1 August 2022 (“AML Amendments”), is the primary legislation in China governing the merger control regime. Chapter 4 of the AML provides for the “Concentration of Undertakings”. Along with the AML, a number of implementing regu - lations and guidelines in relation to merger control have been issued and amended, including: • Provisions of the State Council on Thresholds for Notification of Concentration of Undertakings, promulgated by the State Council, amended and effective as of 22 January 2024; • Guidelines on the Definition of Relevant Market by Anti-Monopoly Commission of the State Council (“Guidelines on Market Definition”), promulgated by the State Council and effective as of 24 May 2009; • Provisions on the Review of Concentrations of Undertakings (“Provisions on Concentration Review”), issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on 10 March 2023 and effective as of 15 April 2023; • Guidance on the Declaration of Simple Cases of Concentrations of Undertakings, issued and amended by the SAMR and effective as of 29 Sep - tember 2018; • Guidance on the Standardisation of the Case Name for the Notification of Concentrations of
Undertakings, issued and amended by the SAMR and effective as of 29 September 2018; and • Guiding Opinions on the Notification of Concentra - tions Between Undertakings, issued by the SAMR and effective as of 29 September 2018; • Guiding Opinions on Declaration Documents for Concentrations of Undertakings, issued and amended by the SAMR and effective as of 29 Sep - tember 2018; • Guidelines for the Review of Horizontal Concentra - tions of Undertakings (“Horizontal Merger Review Guidelines”), issued by the SAMR and effective as of 10 December 2024; • Benchmark for Discretion over Administrative Sanctions for the Illegal Implementation of Concen - trations of Undertakings (for Trial Implementation) (“Trial Discretion Benchmark”), issued by the SAMR and effective as of 19 February 2025; • Specification for Notification of Concentrations of Undertakings, issued by the SAMR and effective as of 1 October 2025; and • Guidelines for the Review of Non-Horizontal Concentrations of Undertakings (“Non-Horizontal Merger Review Guidelines”), issued by the SAMR and effective as of 25 December 2025. Besides the merger-specific regulations and guide - lines, the SAMR has also issued a series of specialised guidelines in which it provides guidance for merger control filing and review with respect to specific mat - ters or sectors, including, among others, the Anti- Monopoly Compliance Guide for Undertakings, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Standard Essential Pat -
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