Abstract:

The introduction of civil public interest litigation in the Anti-Monopoly Law is conducive to safeguarding public interest, promoting the full implementation of the Anti-Monopoly Law and making up for the shortcomings of anti-monopoly private litigation. Clarifying the nature of such litigation is the basis for discussing how to apply antitrust civil public interest litigation, and also the starting point for dealing with its relationship with relevant systems. Fundamentally different from ordinary damage compensation litigation, civil public interest litigation in the Anti-Monopoly Law, similar in nature to law enforcement, is an important supplement to law enforcement. This means that the procuratorate should carefully identify the conditions for prosecution of “harming public interest”, and determine the litigation claims based on the purpose of ending illegal acts and restoring competition order. It should not consider the compensation for private subjects in public interest litigation. In the handling of cases, anti-monopoly law enforcement has priority, and the procuratorate should mainly file public interest litigation against monopolistic conducts that haven’t been handled by the law enforcement agency. In the process of proceeding, the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency may assist the procuratorate in carrying out various work such as case filing, investigation and litigation. It is reasonable for China’s Anti-Monopoly Law to limit the subject of prosecution of civil public interest litigation to “people’s procuratorates at or above the districted city level”. Consumer associations should not be given the qualification to sue because they do not have sufficient capacity to deal with monopoly issues, but they can bring consumer public interest litigation on certain monopolistic practices.

Key words: civil public interest litigation in the Anti-monopoly Law, public interest, connection between litigation and law enforcement, consumer associations