law - Official worries about monopolies


Tetrapak, Microsoft and Eastman Kodak are singled out for investigation into the way they obtained their overwhelming market share in the Chinese market, writes the official newswire Xinhua today.
The State Administration of Industry and Commerce has started such an investigation for the first time. "To ensure their dominant roles, some transnational companies often carry out sweeping mergers and acquisitions to put major competitors under their own flags," writes Xinhua.
While the government takes action against monopolies in developed countries very often, in China - where major industries until recently were dominated by domestic monopolies - it is all very new. Foreign companies have been singled out for this first investigation, but domestic monopolies would keep investigators even more busy.