China releases Annual Report on China's Anti-Monopoly Enforcement (2023)

On June 18, China’s anti-monopoly authority, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), released the "Annual Report on China's Anti-Monopoly Enforcement (2023)". The report shows that in 2023, 27 cases involving monopoly agreements and abuse of market dominance were penalized, with total fines and confiscations of 2.163 billion yuan. Additionally, 797 cases of business concentration were concluded, with 782 cases (over 98%) approved unconditionally. Notably, the pharmaceutical sector faced significant penalties, with fines and confiscations totaling about 1.772 billion yuan, which is around 82% of the annual total. Specifically, two monopoly agreement cases in this sector resulted in fines and confiscations of 69.7 million yuan, while five cases of abuse of market dominance led to fines and confiscations of 1.702 billion yuan.