According to officials of the National Development and Reform Commissions (NDRC), the Department of Price Supervision of NDRC was renamed as the Price Supervision and Anti-monopoly Bureau and the internal offices are under reconstruction1.
The following is a diagram of the current State Council Anti-monopoly Enforcement Agencies's organizational structure:
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Before the reconstruction, the Department of Price Supervision of NDRC has seven offices, and the Anti-Price Monopoly Office is the only one office that handling anti-monopoly conduct:
(1) The General Office;
(2) The Legislative Affairs Office;
(3) The Supervision and Guidance Office;
(4) The Price Inspection Office; and
(5) The Fee-Charging Office;
(6) The Market prices Supervision Office; and
(7) The Anti Price Monopoly Office.
According to NDRC officials, after the reconstruction, there could be two or three new offices supervising and investigating anti-price monopoly conduct.
Commentary
Compared to hundreds of merger review cases handled by MOFCOM, NDRC has investigated only a number of antitrust cases in the past three years and most of them are sanctioned under the Price Law. The rename and restructure of the Price Supervision and Anti-monopoly Bureau may strengthen the anti-price monopoly enforcement. It is reasonable to believe that there could be more anti-price monopoly investigation in the near future. We will continue to monitor the new development of Price Supervision and Anti-monopoly Bureau.
1. See http://www.chinanews.com/cj/2011/07-27/3213971.shtml.
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