China anti-trust probes not protectionist, regulator says
Foreign companies are increasingly concerned they are being targeted by Chinese regulators, a U.S. business lobby said on Tuesday, as a Chinese antitrust agency defended probes into firms such as U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O).
The American Chamber of Commerce in China is the latest business lobby to air its grievances over a series of investigations scrutinizing at least 30 foreign firms, as China seeks to enforce a 2008 anti-monopoly law.
There are growing perceptions that multinational firms are under “selective and subjective enforcement” using “legal and extra-legal approaches”, the Chamber said in a report.
“They have taken what are, in many instances, vague or unspecified provisions in the law and moved to enforce them, and sought to enforce those means through processes that do not respect the notion of due process or fairness,” Lester Ross, vice chairman of the chamber’s policy committee told.
China had seized upon competition law to advance industrial policies that nurture domestic companies, the U.S. Chamber, based in Washington, said in the letter.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China in August expressed its concern over the antitrust investigations, saying China was using strong-arm tactics and appeared to be unfairly targeting foreign firms.
Another antitrust regulator, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said on Monday it had given Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) 20 days to reply to queries on the compatibility of its Windows operating system and Office software suite amid its probe into the world’s largest software company.
Source: Reuters
