Judical rules issued to smooth anti-trust claims

China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) published a judicial interpretation Tuesday on civil lawsuits filed against monopolistic acts, the first of its kind, in a bid to smooth such claims and promote fair competition.

According to the interpretation, an individual, company or organization may bring a civil anti-trust lawsuit directly to the court without having to obtain a government determination on a certain monopolistic act, the SPC spokesman Sun Jungong said at a press conference.

Moreover, the new rules have reduced the plaintiff's burden of proof in such cases.

The plaintiff need not prove the existence of monopoly hazard in typical monopoly cases with evident and serious threats to the market, such as the acts of illegal price or market segmentation collusion, said Kong Xiangjun, chief judge with the third tribunal for civil trials of the SPC.

Experts' testimonies and opinions will also be accepted by the courts as evidence, Sun said.

According to Sun, the difficulty of collecting and providing sufficient evidence is previously a major obstacle for the plaintiff to secure a favorable court ruling in anti-trust actions.

China's anti-trust law became effective in August 2008.

As of the end of last year, Chinese courts nationwide have received 61 cases of civil claims on monopoly disputes and have concluded the trail of 53 cases, Sun said.

These disputes covered a wide spectrum of industries including transportation, medical care, food, household appliances and information network, and the largest amount of damages claimed by the plaintiff was 200 million yuan (US$31.8 million), the spokesman said.

The new judicial interpretation, to become effective from June, is expected to help the proper enforcement of the anti-trust law and promote the healthy development of the market economy, Sun said.