China competition authority State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced that it has launched an investigation against Alibaba Group Holdings Co., Ltd. for suspected monopolistic conducts.
Tech giants such as Alibaba are facing increased scrutiny by the Chinese regulators recently. In the last month, Ant Group's 37 billion Dollar public offering was also suspended and a few weeks later SAMR had taken the first major step towards limiting the monopolistic power tech giants such as Alibaba by setting some draft antitrust rules.
The suspected monopolistic conduct; “Choosing one from two”, as specifically pointed out by the SAMR, requires sellers to sign exclusive co-operation pacts, preventing them from offering products on rival platforms. Accordingly, sellers are forced to choose between one of the rival platforms. Chinese regulators have also previously warned Alibaba about forcing sellers to sign exclusive agreements which prevent them from offering products on competitor’s platforms.
As a result, SAMR launched an investigation against Alibaba’s "choosing one from two" practice.
(SAMR – 24.12.2020)
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