反壟斷首次向外企開刀：三星LG等因價格壟斷被罰3億
Samsung, LG and four Taiwanese firms have been fined heavily for price-fixing of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels on the Chinese mainland.
These companies have been ordered to pay 144 million yuan in fines and return 172 million yuan of extra payment to Chinese mainland buyers. The government also confiscated 36.75 million yuan of their illegal gains, China's top price regulator said Friday.
The four firms from Taiwan are Chi Mei Optoelectronics, AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and HannStar Display.
The six companies were fined for price-rigging on the Chinese mainland between 2001 and 2006, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The NDRC launched an investigation after receiving multiple complaints since Dec. 2006 about price-fixing involving the six companies.
During the investigation, the firms confessed that they held 53 meetings between 2001 and 2006 to fix the prices of flat panels supplied to the Chinese mainland market. This harmed the interests of both other LCD panel suppliers and consumers, according to the NDRC.
LCD panels accounted for about 80 percent of the production cost of color TVs during the 2001-2006 period. More recently, the rate is around 70 percent, according to NDRC data.
The 172 million yuan that was illegally obtained from Chinese television manufacturers has now been reimbursed to these companies, said the NDRC.
The six companies also vowed to extend the free warranty period of their LCD panels for TV producers on the Chinese mainland from 18 months to 36 months, which could save manufacturers 395 million yuan each year on maintenance costs, the NDRC added.
However, some online comments showed their dissatisfaction, saying the fine could not be compared to that levied by the United States and the European Union on companies for similar deeds, which amounted to about 1 billion U.S. dollars.
"The incident is a milestone for Chinese market regulators who will act hard if anyone plays against rules," said Prof. Wu Hong, Dean of School of Economic Laws under East China University of Political Science and Law.
滬江英語快訊：1月4日，中國對境外企業(yè)價格壟斷開出首張罰單——韓國三星、LG，中國臺灣地區(qū)奇美、友達、中華映管和瀚宇彩晶等六家國際大型面板生產(chǎn)商，因壟斷液晶面板價格，遭到國家發(fā)改委經(jīng)濟制裁3.53億元人民幣。這是中國首次對境外企業(yè)開出價格壟斷罰單，也是迄今為止中國開出的金額最高的一張價格違法罰單。這是繼美國和歐盟之后，中國對液晶面板價格壟斷的一次打擊。雖然與歐美數(shù)十億美元的罰款額度相比，中國罰3.53億元人民幣相對較小，但對于中國反壟斷事業(yè)來說意義重大，表明了中國完善市場經(jīng)濟制度的改革和探索正在加速前進；政府也有意加快職能轉(zhuǎn)型，以符合市場經(jīng)濟發(fā)展的要求。
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