Three separate government agencies will be responsible for enforcing the anti-monopoly law, which will take effect on August 1.

The three bodies are the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, with the anti-monopoly committee directly under the State Council.

Jiang Jiang, partner at Hylands Law Firm, said the government’s decision to have several agencies rather than one enforcement body could create unnecessary work and confusion for lawyers.

“The ministries don’t adopt the same standards, so there are conflicts of interest between them,” Jiang said. “Each of them has their own opinions, so which one should lawyers or companies listen to?”

Anti-competition cases very often involve several aspects. The complexity of cases could make it even more difficult for the ministries to collaborate with each other. Ministries’ conflicting messages could force lawyers and clients to go through more rounds of inquires.

“Not only does it waste administrative resources but it also causes unnecessary expense to companies who are making filings,” Jiang said.

But since all three agencies have been given powers to regulate certain aspects of the economy in China for many years, it would be almost impossible for them to give away their positions, he said. Yet the inefficiency of communication and cooperation between the ministries could create loopholes in the filing system.

“It happens a lot in China,” Jiang said. “It takes quite some time to communicate between departments within one ministry, not to mention between different ministries.”

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