Top court to help fine tune anti-monopoly laws

China's top court announced on Thursday that it is drafting a new judicial interpretation on civil litigation against monopolies and will solicit public opinions at an appropriate time.

The purpose of the new interpretation is to specify and improve anti-monopoly laws to help judges deal with relevant cases more efficiently and further clarify the limitations of market entities, according to the Supreme People's Court.

Chinese courts have been required to focus more on resolving lawsuits involving major industries, including e-commerce, core technologies and medical communications, to prevent them from abusing market dominance and to eliminate market blockades.

Courts nationwide will also curb monopolies in fields that have triggered significant public concern, such as those related to healthcare and livelihood, in a timely manner to both protect people's basic interests and maintain the sustainable development of such industries, said He Zhonglin, first deputy chief judge of the SPC's Intellectual Property Court.

"Influential cases that have been concluded by courts should be disclosed to the public to help them better understand the laws, and livestreams of anti-monopoly trials should be increased to improve judicial transparency and enhance the public's legal awareness," he added.

Meanwhile, the handling of criminal cases involving unfair competition will be improved, with more studies to be conducted on regulating new types of behavior by the offenders, said Lin Guanghai, chief judge from the SPC's No 3 Civil Division.

"We'll also advance cooperation with government agencies, arbitration institutes, industrial associations and mediation centers to diversify means of solving problems concerning fair competition, in an effort to meet people's legal demands and create a better market environment," he added.

Both judges noted that the moves aim to implement the requirement of guiding the healthy development of capital, which was a point of stressed in a report made to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last month.

Data from the top court showed that from 2013 to June this year, Chinese courts concluded 916 cases involving monopolies and more than 32,000 cases involving unfair competition.