Chongqing Released China's First Local Declaration Guidelines for Operator Concentration

On October 19, 2022, Chongqing Administration for Market Regulation released the Declaration Guidelines on Chongqing Municipality Antitrust Review for Operator Concentration, which includes brief guides, the basic requirements, and the flow chart for negotiating applications.

The negotiation for the antitrust review of operator concentration is not the necessary procedure for the declaration, and operators may decide themselves whether to apply for the negotiation. The concentration involved in the negotiation should be true and relatively certain. The issues to be negotiated should be directly related to the concentration to be declared. In principle, the application for negotiations on hypothetical issues or concentrations not yet determined will not be processed. The negotiations mainly include: (i) clarifying whether the transaction needs to be declared; (ii) clarifying whether the transaction can be declared as the simple procedure; (iii) ensuring the completeness of documents for the declaration; (iv) discussing the specific legal and factual issues; (v) providing guidance on the declaration and review procedures; and (vi) other related issues.