Legal Update
15 June 2012
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
This is the second of a special two-part legal update series advising clients on Hong Kong's new competition law, which will shortly be signed and promulgated by the Chief Executive and gazetted as an Ordinance.
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Legal Update
15 June 2012
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
After years of consultation and debate, and in the face of continuing opposition from many business sector representatives, Hong Kong is finally on the verge of enacting its first cross-sector competition law. The Competition Bill received its third and final reading last night (14 June) in the Legislative Council, meaning it is destined to become law when the final formalities (signature and promulgation by the Chief Executive and gazetting as an Ordinance) are completed shortly.
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Legal Update
10 April 2012
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
The fate of Hong Kong's proposed competition law is expected to be decided within the next three months. In this legal update, we provide an update on the status of the bill and recap on key amendments the Administration has agreed to make to the bill as it steps up efforts to secure support for its passage.
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Legal Update
19 October 2011
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
The Hong Kong Government has proposed key changes to the Competition Bill that is currently before the region's Legislative Council. The proposed changes are significant, and may be seen as an effort by the government to show that it is willing to compromise to address business sector concerns that had threatened to derail the Bill. Amongst other things, the changes reduce the maximum penalty for contravening the key prohibitions, introduce a turnover-based exemption for smaller business operators, remove the right of persons to bring stand-alone private actions, and introduce a "warning" mechanism in relation to less serious anti-competitive conduct.
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Legal Update
5 September 2011
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
On 26 July 2011, the Bills Committee appointed to review Hong Kong's Competition Bill held its final meeting of the 2010/2011 Legislative Council session. Sittings will resume in mid-October, and from there the committee will need to work quickly to finalise its review and facilitate a Council vote on the Bill in the second calendar quarter of 2012.
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
In recent days, the Legislative Council Bills Committee that is considering Hong Kong’s proposed Competition Bill was provided with guidelines that explain how the government believes key aspects of the Bill should be interpreted and applied. However as the Guidelines on the First Conduct Rule are a sample only, and are in no way binding on the proposed Competition Commission (which would be established as an independent body under the law and tasked with drafting a 'real' set of guidelines to explain its approach to key matters), they may be considered to be of limited practical use for the business sector in terms of gearing up for compliance or debating the merits of the Bill.
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
The Hong Kong government has published its new Competition Bill, which is set to be introduced into the Legislative Council within the next fortnight. While the contents of the Bill largely accord with previous government announcements, key details relevant to understanding the true scope and potential impact of the Bill on the business sector remain to be provided.
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Legal Update
25 June 2010
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
Trade and professional associations (hereafter, ‘Associations’) play a vital role in the economy.
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Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update
The Hong Kong government appears set to introduce its long-awaited competition law into the Legislative Council by mid-July 2010, according to newspaper reports. This follows previous indications by government representatives that the law would not surface in time to meet the previously announced schedule of introduction in the current 2009/2010 legislative session - the most recent of several delays since the government firmly committed to introducing such a law in 2007.
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