BEIJING: China imposed a total of 6.6 billion yuan (US$1 billion) in anti-trust fines involving 10 cases so far this year, the country’s top economic planner said yesterday.
Li Pumin, secretary-general with the National Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference that China’s anti-trust work has made much progress this year and that fair competition has been effectively maintained.
The NDRC is currently working on anti-trust guidelines for the automobile industry and will step up anti-trust law enforcement in the future, he said.
In February, the NDRC has imposed a record fine of 6.09 billion yuan on mobile chip maker Qualcomm following an anti-trust probe, the largest anti-trust fine in China’s history.
The NDRC said Qualcomm was found to have abused its market dominance, charging discriminatory fees in the Chinese market when licensing mobile chip technology.
It fined Chrysler, Audi and 12 Japanese companies after anti-trust investigations last year.
