A senior EU official expressed confidence in China's competition
policy at a joint conference in Beijing on Friday.
"I am delighted to see the increased prominence that competition
policy has gained in China and the development of competition law
on which the Ministry of
Commerce has been working," said Philip Lowe, director general
of the European Commission's competition directorate.
The EU-China Conference on Competition Policy forms part of the
competition policy dialogue as established by the signing of terms
of reference on May 6, 2004, the first such dialogue initiated by
China with a foreign jurisdiction.
The dialogue deals in particular with antitrust law and
enforcement, including exchange of views on new developments on
legislation and enforcement; merger of control in a global economy;
liberalization of public utility sectors and state intervention in
the market process; exchange of views on multilateral competition
initiatives, in particular on hardcore cartels; raising corporate
and public awareness of competition.
The structured dialogue will help foster the interests of both
European and Chinese companies when doing business in each other's
territories and will create a more stable environment for foreign
direct investment, said Lowe.
He said that to support this dialogue, the EU is also financing
a study aimed at helping the Ministry of Commerce develop
competition law and policy by explaining the EU's approach and
experience.
Economic reform policies, such as liberalization and
privatization, cannot be expected to automatically contribute to
economic growth if competition law and its enforcement
infrastructure are lacking, said Lowe.
"We are looking forward to seeing a full-fledged competition
regime covering both anti-trust and merger rules in operation in
China soon," he said.
He also said that in the increasingly globalized economy, open
and competitive markets offer enormous opportunities for all
players. In this context, Europe is supporting market-oriented
reforms throughout the world and the introduction of competition
regimes that go with them.
Ma Xiuhong, vice minister of commerce, said at the conference
that China and the EU are faced with similar challenges in the
promotion of competition policy and creation of an integrated
internal market. They are both striving to create an environment
for state companies and private companies, big companies and small
and medium sized companies to compete fairly.
Currently, the EU is China's largest trading partner, and with
China's entry into the WTO and an improved investment environment,
more and more EU companies are entering the Chinese market. At the
same time, the EU has gradually become the investment priority of
some big Chinese names, said Ma.
She said that in this context, China-EU cooperation on
competition policy will be mutually beneficial. China values and is
making reference to the EU's experiences in forming its own
policy.
China has been working on anti-monopoly legislation since 1994
and a draft was submitted to the State Council for review last
year. The law is expected to be promulgated next year, according to
Ma.
Apart from bilateral cooperation on competition policy, China
and the EU also agreed on multilateral cooperation in this
field.
The increasing integration of the world economy, as reflected by
the rise in multi-jurisdictional mergers and anti-competitive
conduct across borders, makes international cooperation vital for
competition authorities not only in development but also in
enforcement of the law, according to Lowe.
Competition policy must be developed in a convergent way across
the world on one hand and respect the sovereignty of individual
countries and authorities on the other, said Lowe.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Yuan Fang, April 23, 2005)