The event of EU-China Competition Week held in Hainan

Experts from Europe and China have gathered this week in Haikou, capital of Hainan province, to discuss cooperation on a broad range of priority competition policy issues.

The event, entitled the 13th EU-China Competition Week, is organized under the EU-China Competition Cooperation project. It features participants and speakers from the European Commission, several EU member states' agencies and China's anti-monopoly enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission.

The meeting, which closes on Friday, allows the EU and Chinese experts to discuss cooperation on priority competition policy issues, including the use of remedies, mergers in online platforms, pre-notification consultations, undertaking competition assessments of laws and regulations, the application of competition law to the automotive sector, two-sided markets in internet and digital platforms or horizontal cooperation agreements and syndicates.

The 12th EU-China Competition Week was held in Beijing in March this year, with the theme focusing on the quantification on harm and parental liability for anti-monopoly infringements.

The EU has a long history of bilateral competition policy cooperation with China, dating back to the 2004 establishment of a structured EU-China Competition Policy Dialogue between the European Commissions' Directorate General for Competition and the Ministry of Commerce. DG Competition also signed memorandum of understanding with the NDRC and the SAIC in 2012 to strengthen cooperation and coordination in this area.

The EU-China Competition Policy Dialogue led by DG Competition is a permanent mechanism for consultation and transparency between China and the EU in the competition field as well as the formal framework for the EU's technical cooperation with China.

The Partnership Instrument of the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments funds the EU-China Competition Cooperation project. It aims to foster cooperation in competition policy between the EU and Asia through the organization of a number of specialized competition weeks, summer schools and visitors' programs.