On April 18, 2014, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) unveiled the first tentative guideline for the simple merger review process:
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Filing parties may submit a written petition for simple merger before the actual submission of the merger case.
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The following documents, in both confidential and public versions, need to be included in the petition:
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The petition form including the personal information of the petitioner (can be found here);
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A description of the relevant market, including market shares and major competitors;
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Documents pertaining to the merger, such as written agreements and contracts;
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Merging parties’ financial audits;
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Any other documents as requested by the Anti-Monopoly Bureau
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Filing parties to a proposed simple merger deal may use a filing software to fill out the petition form (the software can be found here).
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If a case does not meet the criteria for simple merger review, the petitioner must re-file the petition through the standard channel.
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The petitioner for simple review must also fill out a “public review” form (can be found here). The completed form will then be posted on the MOFCOM website for ten days, during which any third party can submit a grounded complaint to dispute the status of the case.
It would appear that MOFCOM’s recourse to a public review process is aimed at increasing the transparency of the merger review process, since it replaces the old “one-on-one” consultations between MOFCOM and domestic stakeholders. It also shows MOFCOM’s commitment to effectively reduce the amount of red-tape surrounding the merger review process.
Links to our previous articles on MOFCOM’s Simple Review Procedure:
https://www.antitrustlawyerblog.com/mofcom-publishes-long-awaited-interim-rule-on-applicable-standards-for-simple-merger-review-cases/, detailing the definition of ‘simple case’ that qualifies for the simple review procedure
And
https://www.antitrustlawyerblog.com/mofcom-update-draft-rules-on-simplified-merger-review-procedure/, which mentions the previous changes to the draft rules on the simple merger review
Mark Ye
202-589-1834
mye@dbmlawgroup.com