Antitrust: Tetra Pak and Medtronic fined by Chinese authorities

The State Administration of Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) has recently issued the decision against the Sweden packaging giant Tetra Pak for abuse of market dominance (“Tetra Pak Decision”). The decision finally marks the end to the lengthy process lasted around more than 4 years with a raid of the SAIC on several offices of Tetra Pak in 2013 widely reported by media. The total fine imposed on Tetra Pak is CNY 677.7 million (USD 97 million, 7% of Tetra Pak’s 2011 turnover in relevant market) and constitutes the second largest fine ever from the promulgation of China Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) in 2008. Tetra Pak seems accepting the verdict and not appealing against this penalty.

On 5 December 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") – one of the three Chinese antitrust authorities – issued its decision fining the local unit of Medtronic, a U.S. listed medical device maker, for resale price maintenance ("RPM"). The NDRC held that Medtronic had engaged in RPM practices since 2014, including setting resale prices, fixing profit margins, imposing minimum bidding prices, and setting minimum resale prices to hospitals.