Group airs anti-monopoly concern

NDRC reiterates probes not 'targeting' foreign firms

Companies facing antitrust probes in China are subject to a host of pressure tactics from regulators, a business lobby said on Wednesday, in the latest report to cite due process concerns over China's anti-monopoly enforcement.

China has ramped up the use of its 2008 Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) in recent years, prompting a string of complaints by foreign groups that overseas firms are unfairly being targeted by the antitrust regulators.

The US-China Business Council (USCBC) said companies that drew scrutiny from regulators had been pressured to "admit guilt", appear without legal counsel and make statements without being informed of the grounds for investigations.

"Such practices contradict both the letter and the spirit of China's efforts to promote rule of law and due process, and they are out of line with international best practices," the Council said in a report.

The Council paper follows a string of statements from the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the Washington-based US Chamber of Commerce, all expressing alarm about what they have called China's unfair use of competition policy.

The Council said 86 percent of respondents to a survey reported they were either somewhat, or very concerned about China's anti-monopoly enforcement.

Both Chinese and foreign firms had been probed since the AML came into effect, it said, but regulators' actions "in recent months" had focused more heavily on overseas businesses.

However, the nation's enforcement of anti-monopoly law has nothing to do with the ownership of the company, the antitrust probes cover State-owned enterprises, private firms, and foreign-funded companies in wide-ranging sectors, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.

"Some of the NDRC antitrust investigations involve overseas multinationals, but that does not mean that we are targeting them," said Xu Kunlin, head of the anti-monopoly bureau under the NDRC, the nation's top economic planning body.

"As a law enforcement agency, we treat local and overseas companies equally to ensure justice for all. This is the spirit of the Chinese Antitrust Law, and the principle we always adhere to during law enforcement," Xu said.

The official response was made amid concerns over a series of antitrust probes into global brands such as Microsoft, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz over the past two months.

The purpose of the law is to ensure fair market competition, improve efficiency in the economy, and protect public interests, Xu said.