AML compliance: challenges that enterprises urgently need to resolve

The six panel enterprises have had economic sanctions totalling RMB353 million (US$56 million) imposed, have been ordered to refund a total of RMB172 million to nine major domestic colour TV enterprises, and have undertaken to increase the warranty term on panels from 18 months to 36 months, thereby reducing the costs of the domestic colour TV enterprises by RMB395 million per year.

Details of the case

The liquid crystal panel anti-price fixing case is the first case in which the PRC conducted an anti-monopoly investigation of enterprises outside the PRC and is its first major horizontal monopoly case, securing huge benefits for China’s national industry. In 2010, when Tian Yuan accepted the appointment, domestic colour TV enterprises had on several occasions reported on the circumstances to the relevant ministerial level authorities, but no substantial progress had been made in the case, and the information and material that the client could provide us were very scattered and lacking any systemic structure. To this day, we vividly remember the details of the case. At the time, implementation of PRC Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) was still in its infancy and the experience of domestic law firms in this area of practice was lacking.