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China's antitrust 'safe harbor' offers no cover for agreements with horizontal effects

By MLex Staff ( March 25, 2026, 08:23 GMT | Insight) -- Experts warned that companies risk misinterpreting China’s antitrust “safe harbor” regime because agreements that take the form of vertical arrangements but in substance produce horizontal coordination effects will fall outside the exemption, which does not apply based on form alone. Speaking at a compliance seminar hosted by the State Administration for Market Regulation on Tuesday, Tsinghua University professor Zhang Chenying said the safe harbor applies only to agreements that are vertical in substance, not those that merely appear so in form.Experts warned that companies risk misinterpreting China’s antitrust “safe harbor” regime because agreements that take the form of vertical arrangements but in substance produce horizontal coordination effects will fall outside the exemption, which does not apply based on form alone....

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