On January 2, 2020, the first working day of the third decade of this century, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") issued for public comment a revision draft (the "Revision Draft") of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (the"AML"). Efforts to revise the AML formally began several years ago with the State Council releasing the Legislative Work Plan for 2015, and revising the AML was listed on the legislative work plan of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (the "NPC") in 2018. Centering around these revisions, guided by the Anti-Monopoly Committee under the State Council, SAMR is soliciting public comments from a broad array of stakeholders so as to revise the AML pursuant to both local and international experience to address crucial and vexing problems facing practitioners. The Revision Draft is SAMR's first public step toward revising the AML. In principle, following this step, SAMR will modify the Revision Draft in response to public comments and submit it for review to the Ministry of Justice, which will further modify the submitted draft including suggestions and opinions from stakeholders. Thereafter, the Ministry of Justice will submit its own draft to Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.
