ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the application of the EU merger control rules in economic concentration cases involving Chinese SOEs. It focuses on the application of the legal concepts, such as concentration, control, single economic unit, decisive influence, etc., to the peculiar corporate structures and governance methods of the Chinese SOEs. The detailed analysis includes the representations made by the merging parties and the positions taken by the EU Commission. It proceeds in chronological order in order to trace the consistency and evolution of the Commission’s application of the ‘worst case scenario’ approach whereby considering the likelihood of anti-competitive effects stemming from the possible post-merger coordination of the Chinese SOEs facilitated by the SASAC. The distinction between procedural and substantive consequences of determining the exact scope of the ‘single economic unit’ comprising all or only certain Chinese SOEs is discussed in relation to opposing interpretations proposed by scholars and practitioners.
