Public Interest Litigation for the Enforcement of Anti-Monopoly Law in China

The development of the public interest litigation (PIL) in the field of environmental law and consumer protection in China have been accelerating in parallel since 2012 following the amendments of the Civil Procedure Law and the issuance of the judicial interpretations by the Supreme People’s Court. While initially led by the environmental and consumer protection organizations, the PIL practice has become increasingly dominated by the people’s procuratorates acting as plaintiffs in PIL cases, first under the pilot program in designated provinces and subsequently, nation-wide. At the same time, the private enforcement of the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) has been lagging behind its public enforcement due to the substantial burden of proof, evidentiary difficulties and litigation costs, which dissuaded individual plaintiffs from pursuing AMLbased claims in private disputes. The recent reform of the AML authorized the procuratorates to act as plaintiffs in PIL related to anti-competitive practices prohibited under the AML. Tracing the development of the PIL practice dominated by the procuratorates, the present paper argues that the AML-based PIL in its present form is unlikely to remedy the deficiencies of the private AML enforcement, primarily due to the restricted circle of eligible plaintiffs. KCI Citation Count: 0