Overview

On 5 July, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released its ‘Provisional Rules on Implementing Divestiture of Assets or Businesses’ (the Divestment Rules).

The Rules came into effect from the day of their publication, without any prior public consultation, and reflect practices that are in place in both EU and US competition law regimes, and are a restatement of the practices that MOFCOM has already put in place in divestment proceedings during the five conditional clearance mergers that have occurred since the implementation of China's Anti-Monopoly Law (AML).

The Rules establish a two stage procedure for conducting divestments required by MOFCOM as a remedy to any potential anti-competitive effects of mergers, acquisitions or other concentrations under the AML.

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