The first antitrust lawsuit initiated by the United States against China: Hebei Pharmaceutical company won the lawsuit at the end of 12 years

Source: China news.com Author: Chen Lin 2016-9-23 the first antitrust lawsuit initiated by the United States against China lasted 12 years, and finally ended with the victory of Hebei Pharmaceutical Company North China Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd issued a notice saying that on September 21, the company received a report from its subsidiary Hebei Weikang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd that the United States Court of Appeals for the second circuit had dealt with vitamin C of Chinese enterprises in the United States on September 20, 2016 local time Make a judgment in the antitrust litigation: cancel the original judgment of the district court, reject the plaintiff's lawsuit, send it back to the original court of trial and order the original court to cancel the case The anti-monopoly case involving vitamin C in the United States began in 2005 At that time, four Chinese pharmaceutical companies producing vitamin C were sued by American companies, claiming that Chinese manufacturers had jointly carried out price collusion against vitamin C products exported to the United States through reaching fixed price agreements and other ways, in violation of the U.S anti-monopoly law Xie Yongfa, director of the policy and regulation department of the Hebei Provincial Department of Commerce and a public lawyer who has been concerned about and supported the case, told China News Agency on Tuesday that China was in the transition from a planned economy to a market economy system, and that China's export products were sold at a low price, facing the risk of foreign anti-dumping At that time, the country had not yet promulgated an anti-monopoly law In this context, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of pharmaceutical and health care products is determined by the government to pre check and sign the relevant export products, and the American enterprises take this as an anti-monopoly lawsuit against Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises Xie Yongfa said that due to various considerations, the other three companies settled with the plaintiff and compensated each other before the first trial At last, only one company of Hebei Weikang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd insisted on not settling Eight years later, in 2013, the court of first instance ruled that Chinese enterprises constituted a monopoly and demanded compensation of about 150 million US dollars from the US plaintiffs A spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said the results were unfair and inappropriate after the US Court ruled that Huabei pharmaceutical violated the US anti-monopoly law The head of the legal audit department of Huabei Pharmaceutical Group said in an interview with China News Agency at that time that the first trial decision was very unfair and that the enterprise had made full preparations to appeal and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises in accordance with the law After Hebei Weikang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd filed an appeal, and after nearly three years of trial by the court of second instance, it won the winning judgment During this time, Hebei Provincial Department of Commerce and other departments have been providing support and help to enterprises Xie Yongfa said that for this reason, Hebei invited experts to hold a meeting to study and demonstrate The Ministry of Commerce stated its opinions to the U.S Court of appeal in the form of a "friend of the court" letter The Chinese government presented a diplomatic note to the U.S protesting the ruling of the first instance The case lasted for 12 years, and Hebei pharmaceutical enterprises won the final victory, which was not easy to explain Yongfa He said that there are similar cases in China Once the case is lost, other enterprises will face the threat of antitrust litigation This case becomes a case, and other similar enterprises in China, such as laterite and magnesite, will be exempt from the threat of antitrust litigation "From this point of view, the first antitrust lawsuit initiated by the United States against China is of exemplary significance."