Antitrust Issues in Mergers and Acquisitions

Author: Wang Xiaoye
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-12-01
Features: The purpose of the "Series on Special Studies in Chinese Civil and Commercial Law" is to take into account the actual conditions of China's reform and opening-up and the development of a socialist market economy, to extensively refer to the successful experiences in civil and commercial legislation and the latest case law and doctrines of developed countries and regions, to conduct in-depth research on the fundamental theories and major legal issues in civil and commercial law, and to provide a scientific legal foundation for the modernization of China's civil and commercial legislation and the scientific development of civil and commercial judicial practice. This series aims to enhance the theoretical level of civil and commercial law, cultivate research talents in civil and commercial law, and accelerate the catch-up of China's civil and commercial legal theory to the level of developed countries and regions. This book conducts a comparative study on the laws governing the control of corporate mergers in the U.S. antitrust law and Germany's Act Against Restraints of Competition. This is partly because the antitrust laws of these two countries have significant guiding and reference value for the laws of other countries, and partly because these two countries have different approaches to certain specific issues in the control of corporate mergers, which is conducive to comparative research and finding a solution more suitable for China's national conditions. The Act Against Restraints of Competition of the Federal Republic of Germany has a rigorous structure and comprehensive content, and has long been at the forefront of international comparative antitrust law. It has had a profound influence on the antitrust laws of EU countries, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern European countries. The U.S. antitrust law is considered the "mother law" of antitrust laws worldwide and continues to exert a significant influence on the legislation of countries around the world, including the revision of Germany's Act Against Restraints of Competition. Since the 1980s, with changes in the international competitive landscape, U.S. antitrust policies have undergone profound changes. In practice, the U.S. government has largely ceased intervening in vertical and horizontal mergers, and has adopted a more lenient policy toward horizontal mergers compared to the past. Undoubtedly, the new U.S. antitrust policy will have a major impact on the antitrust laws of other countries.