Declaration Required for Global Turnover in Excess of RMB 10 Billion

The provisions of the State Council on the Standards for Operator Concentration Declarations (the Provisions) were released on August 4. Under the Provisions, operators’ business turnover, an internationally accepted measure, has been adopted to determine whether or not a declaration is necessary.

The Provisions provide two standards that trigger a declaration requirement: global turnover and domestic turnover. If the total global turnover of all participants in a business concentration exceeded RMB 10 billion in the previous accounting year and at least two of the operators had turnover in excess of RMB 400million in China in the previous accounting year, or if the total domestic turnover of al the participants exceeded RMB 2 billion and at least two of them had turnover of more than RMB 400 million in China in the previous accounting year, a declaration must be made.

In addition, if a concentration of business operators is likely to restrict competition, even if none of the aforementioned thresholds are met, the anti-monopoly enforcement authorities are required to conduct an investigation in accordance with the law.