Brussels, 21/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Neelie Kroes, responsible for competition policy, met with Ma Xiuhong, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce in charge of competition, in Brussels on Tuesday 20 June to examine the Anti-Monopoly Law recently approved by the Chinese State Council. The visit comes within the framework of EU/China dialogue on competition policy.
At their meeting, Neelie Kroes said: “I congratulate the Chinese Government on the recent endorsement of the draft Anti-Monopoly Law. This is an important stage towards an effective competition regime, and the work of the Chinese Government has been impressive. The Chinese economy will benefit from the implementation of a competition policy, as will any company seeking to do business in China”.
After several years of work, the Chinese State Council approved an Anti-Monopoly Law on 7 June 2006. The draft law will be submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) for discussion and possible adoption by the end of 2006 or early 2007. The European Commission has met with representatives of China on several occasions during recent years to discuss how competition policy may be implemented in China, and closely followed and encouraged the drafting of this law.
Formal EU-China dialogue on competition policy began in 2004 as a result of a joint statement adopted during the EU-China summit in 2001, specifying that competition policy was a field in which it was appropriate to intensify discussions between the EU and China.