VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES
China’s two biggest liquor makers, Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd and Wuliangye Yibin Co Ltd, paid a record combined fine of 449 million yuan ($73.37 million) for price fixing. The fines were equivalent to 1 percent of their total sales last year. Local media reported that the companies violated antitrust laws by imposing financial penalties on distributors who sold their products at prices lower that those they had set.
The National Development and Reform Commission announced penalties for five gold retailers in Shanghai found guilty of manipulating prices. Retailers including Shanghai-listed Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co Ltd were fined 10.6 million yuan for price fixing. The amount was equal to 1 percent of their sales in 2012.
The Shanghai Gold & Jewelry Trade Association was also penalized for “organization of unified price adjustments” by gold retailers over the past six years, in violation of the antitrust law. The manipulation involved both gold and platinum products.
Six foreign infant formula producers were ordered to pay fines of 668.73 million yuan by the antimonopoly department of the National Development and Reform Commission for price fixing. The fines, the largest ever for an antitrust infringement in China, involve milk powder makers including Mead Johnson & Co, Abott Laboratories and Royal FrieslandCampina, which were found to have imposed price controls on product retailers and distributors.
The NDRC has launched antitrust investigations of the pharmaceutical and medical services sectors. The commission is already investigating 60 foreign and local pharmaceutical companies over pricing. This investigation has yet to conclude.
Xu Kunlin, head of the price and antitrust department of the NDRC, told China Central Television on Aug 16 that monopoly behavior in the petroleum, telecommunications, vehicle and banking industries will all be investigated by the NDRC.
The NDRC will focus on banks’ controls of deposit interest rates, in a move to ensure independent fixing of the rates, after the market-oriented reform of interest rates has been launched.
The NDRC will push Chinese telecom operators to further cut service charges within the remaining four months of this year, the Information Daily reported on Monday, citing an unidentified source. High rates have been the main cause of consumer complaints. The three major telecom operators — China Mobile Ltd, China Telecom Corp Ltd and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd — may cut rates for their mobile communication and broadband access businesses, the Chinese newspaper said.