Review № 12 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- China's Sinochem loses control of Italian tire maker Pirelli
- China passes country's first fundamental law to promote non-state sector development
- Alibaba launches express delivery service across China ahead of schedule
- Ant Group acquires majority stake in Hong Kong brokerage
- SAMR announces campaign to crack down on unauthorized fees from enterprises in 2025
- China's Supreme People's Court tightens requirements for handling enterprise-related cases
- China launches major campaign to remove barriers to market entry
- Chinese self-driving car startup Pony.ai gains ground with Tencent partnership
China's Sinochem loses control of Italian tire maker Pirelli
Italian tire maker Pirelli has removed Chinese holding Sinochem, its largest shareholder with a 37% stake, from the company's management.
This decision is related to the Italian government's order, which activated the Golden Power mechanism, which allows limiting foreign influence on strategically important assets. The corresponding order was supported by a majority of votes - nine out of 15 members of the board of directors voted "for", five members representing Sinochem voted "against", and one abstained.
According to a press release from Pirelli, this decision is the first, but not decisive step towards corporate governance reform, which must comply with the requirements of the regulator in the United States - a key market for the company.
The board members from Sinochem who disagreed with the decision expressed "deep disappointment and strong protest", emphasizing that the Chinese company has always strictly complied with the law.
Sources: Bloomberg, Pirelli’s press release
China passes country's first fundamental law to promote non-state sector development
On April 30, China passed the country's first fundamental law aimed at developing the private sector.
The Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting the Private Sector, consisting of 78 articles and nine chapters, will come into effect on May 20 this year. The document covers issues such as fair competition, investment and financing promotion, scientific and technological innovation, legal regulation, protection of the rights and interests of enterprises, and legal liability.
The document for the first time enshrines the legal status of the private sector of the economy and for the first time clearly stipulates that “promoting the sustainable, healthy, and high-quality development of the non-state sector of the economy is an important policy that China should adhere to over a long period of time.”
In China, private enterprises account for more than 60% of GDP. By the end of March 2025, there were more than 57 million registered non-state-owned companies in the country, accounting for more than 92% of all enterprises in China.
Source: Gov.cn
Alibaba launches express delivery service across China ahead of schedule
Alibaba Group has launched its fast-delivery service Taobao Instant Commerce ahead of schedule, heating up competition with JD.com and Meituan for the Chinese e-commerce market. Although the service was originally scheduled to launch on May 6, the company announced on its Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter) page that the service had already gone live on Friday.
The new service covers 50 major cities in China and offers delivery of groceries, electronics and clothing in under an hour. The service is an improvement on Alibaba’s original local delivery service, which was handled by its food delivery unit Ele.me.
The accelerated launch of Taobao Instant Commerce reflects growing demand from Chinese consumers for fast, low-cost delivery services that have become an integral part of urban life. Such services rely on millions of couriers and sophisticated algorithms to manage warehouses, plan routes and distribute orders.
Source: SCMP
Ant Group acquires majority stake in Hong Kong brokerage
Chinese fintech company Ant Group, a subsidiary of China’s Alibaba, announced it has bought a 50.55% stake in Hong Kong-based brokerage Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group for $362 million, marking the company’s first acquisition of a brokerage license.
Following the news of the deal, Bright Smart shares soared 82% to HK$5.55 ($1 ≈ HK$7.7578) in trading on Monday. During the session, quotes reached a record HK$6, almost double the price before trading was suspended on April 23. It was the largest one-day gain since the company’s IPO in 2010.
Source: Reuters
SAMR announces campaign to crack down on unauthorized fees from enterprises in 2025
China's State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) has launched a special campaign to identify and crack down on illegal fees from businesses.
The document notes that the campaign will focus on fees collected by government agencies and their subordinate organizations, administrative approval intermediaries, e-commerce platforms, industry associations, chambers of commerce, and transportation and logistics companies.
SAMR's regional offices have been instructed to organize targeted inspections and eliminate identified violations. The Chinese regulator will also conduct random inspections to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken.
Source: SAMR
China's Supreme People's Court tightens requirements for handling enterprise-related cases
The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China has issued a directive aimed at raising the standards of legal proceedings in cases related to business activities.
The document calls for equal protection of property rights, equal economic rights and opportunities for enterprises of all types of ownership, as well as a comprehensive consideration of the circumstances of each case and the adoption of appropriate measures in accordance with the law in terms of promoting high-quality development.
Particular attention is paid to the strict distinction between economic disputes and criminal offenses in order to protect businesses from unjustified criminal prosecution. Courts are required to clearly distinguish between contractual disputes and contract fraud, legal financing and illegal fundraising, mergers and reorganizations of companies and theft of state assets. In cases where companies' actions violate administrative regulations, but there is no criminal offense, the courts are required to issue acquittals or recommend that the prosecutor's office dismiss the case. For complex or atypical cases, it is possible to transfer cases to higher courts. The Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China requires more active use of mediation mechanisms and other alternative dispute resolution methods, while stipulating the voluntary nature of such procedures. If conciliation procedures fail, the courts should promptly proceed to standard consideration of the case, avoiding the practice of delaying the process or using mediation as a tool to put pressure on the parties.
The Court requires ensuring the principles of fair market competition for all economic entities, paying special attention to protecting small and medium-sized businesses from abuses by large companies. It is necessary to strengthen antitrust justice and the fight against unfair competition, punish monopolistic agreements, abuse of a dominant market position and other types of anti-competitive behavior in accordance with the law.
Source: Weixin
China launches major campaign to remove barriers to market entry
On May 29, the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China, together with the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration for Market Regulation, issued a notice to launch a nationwide campaign to identify and remove unreasonable barriers to market entry. The focus will be on local laws, departmental regulations and administrative regulations that create unreasonable barriers to market entry. The campaign will be carried out in several stages. First, a full audit of all regulatory documents related to market access will be conducted. Then, information on possible violations will be collected through various channels and through self-audit by government agencies. After that, the identified problems must be eliminated within the specified time frame under the supervision of the responsible departments.
Source: Weixin
Chinese self-driving car startup Pony.ai gains ground with Tencent partnership
Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai has entered into a strategic partnership with tech giant Tencent. The partnership will see Pony.ai’s self-driving taxi services integrated into Tencent’s popular platforms, including WeChat (a Chinese messaging app with a variety of built-in services) and Tencent Maps, giving it access to more than a billion users. Nasdaq-listed Pony.ai shares jumped 47% after the partnership was announced.
Source: SCMP
