Actions often speak louder than words, and such will be the case this year with China's Anti-Monopoly Law. The Ministry of Commerce has published nine documents since the beginning of the year clarifying issues such as turnover, control, investigations and the filing process. But these documents will mean little if the regulator does not follow them. Their record to date is not encouraging.
So far, only a few cases have been considered by Mofcom, and only one has been published. InBev's merger with Anheuser-Busch was approved by the regulator on November 18, but with conditions. The company must notify Mofcom if, in the future, it increases its stake in Tsingdao Brewery or Zhujiang Brewery, or acquires a stake China Resources Snow Breweries or Beijing Yanjing Brewery, regardless of whether these transactions trigger the thresholds.
Critics have suggested that this decision shows that China plans to use the Anti-Monopoly Law to...