The impact of the World Trade Organisation on the formulation of the antimonopoly law of the People's Republic of China

China became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December 2001. This historical event has impact on both China and the WTO. As an observer noted, ‘The WTO will change China, but China will also change the WTO’. This thesis is an example how the WTO will change China. It examines the WTO’s impact on the formulation of China’s first comprehensive competition law, the Antimonopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter the Antimonopoly Law 2007). The formulation of the Antimonopoly Law 2007 has generated unprecedented interest within and outside China due to the sheer size of the Chinese economy and trade. Despite this significance, there is a lack of studies on the WTO’s impact on the formulation of the Antimonopoly Law 2007. Against this background, this study examines whether, and if so, how the WTO could have had impact on its formulation, and to what extent the formulation of the Antimonopoly Law 2007 has reflected such impacts. To this end, it focuses on four aspects: a. consistency: the content of the Antimonopoly Law 2007 needs to be consistent with the WTO rules; b. obligation: the enactment of the Antimonopoly Law 2007 could help China implement its WTO commitments; c. enabling: WTO rules could have enhanced the case for China seeking to combat anticompetitive practices through the Antimonopoly Law 2007; and d. peer pressure: the formulation of the Antimonopoly Law 2007 could have been influenced by the peer review system—the Trade Policy Review Mechanism. These four aspects are examined in Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five and Chapter Six respectively. These four chapters constitute the main part of this thesis. This thesis concludes by noting that (1) the WTO could have had impact on the formulation of the Antimonopoly Law 2007; (2) such impact could have been reflected through four aspects; (3) the formulation of the Antimonopoly Law 2007 has been influenced by the WTO.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

PhD

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Glasgow

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Zhou, Zhaofeng

• KZ Law of Nations

Language dc:language

en