原料药“独家经销”模式的垄断责任主体认定

Determining the Subjects of Anti-Monopoly Liability in the "Exclusive Distribution" of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

原料药市场的市场特性决定了原料药市场中垄断案件频发,原料药"独家经销"模式存在严重的反竞争性与横纵向关系的复合性,这决定了原料药"独家经销"模式下的垄断问题既是反垄断执法重点,也是反垄断执法难点。执法机构对原料药"独家经销"垄断案件的传统规制模式无法处罚"独家经销"模式这一复合关系中的所有责任主体。因此,可原则上将"独家经销"垄断行为认定为轴辐协议,通过配套规定扩张轴辐协议的责任主体,制定具有针对性的责任主体认定标准。上述手段无法实现时,可根据滥用市场支配地位制度分别认定生产商与经销商的滥用行为,保证"独家经销"垄断责任主体认定的全面性。

The market characteristics of an active pharmaceutical ingredient(API) market result in the increase of monopoly cases in the relevant market.The "exclusive distribution" of APIs gives rise to the serious anti-competitive effects and contains both the horizontal and vertical relationships.This further complicates the problems of monopoly,which have become the key and the intractable in the anti-monopoly law enforcement.As for the law enforcement organizations,the traditional approach to regulating the monopoly cases in this "exclusive distribution" of APIs fails to punish all the liability subjects in the complex relationships involved in this distribution mode.Therefore,it is proposed that the monopoly of "exclusive distribution",in principle,can be determined as a hub-and-spoke agreement.Complementary regulations can be published to expand the scope of the liability subjects of the hub-and-spoke agreement,and establish the specific criteria to determine the liability subjects.Where the approaches mentioned above are not able to deal with the problems,the practices of the manufacturers and the distributors may,respectively,be determined as an abuse of a dominant position in the market.This proposal will ensure the comprehensiveness of the determination of the subjects of monopoly liability in this distribution mode.