我国反垄断罚款基数的适用问题研究——以“上一年度销售额”为解释对象

A Study on the Definition of the Basis for Anti-Monopoly Fines——Take the“Previous Year’s Sales”as the Object of Interpretation

我国反垄断罚款兼具剥夺违法收益和惩戒的双重功能。但“上一年度销售额”作为我国反垄断罚款的计算基准,仍存在解释歧义。区间倍率式的一元罚款结构限定和罚款需兼容“没收违法所得”的制度目的,使得合理界定“上一年度销售额”具有现实意义。以反垄断法立法目的为指引、以威慑理论为逻辑基础,原则上应将“上一年度”理解为与执法机构作出处罚时在时间上最接近、事实上最关联的违法行为存在年度,将“销售额”理解为“总销售额”。这一界定符合过罚相当原则。但在例外情况下,亦可允许执法或司法机关通过类型化的总结,将“销售额”解释为“涉案销售额”,以纾解个案可能存在的处罚过重之弊。

China’s anti-monopoly fines have the dual functions of depriving illegal gains and penalizing.However,there are still interpretive ambiguities in the calculation of“last year’s sales”as the basis for China’s antitrust fines.The limitations of the one-dollar fine structure in the form of interval multiplier and the need for the fine to be compatible with the institutional purpose of“confiscation of illegal proceeds”make the reasonable definition of“previous year’s sales”of practical significance.Guided by the legislative purpose of the Antimonopoly Law and based on the logical foundation of deterrence theory,in principle,the“previous year”should be interpreted as the year of the existence of the illegal behavior that is closest in time and most relevant in fact to the time when the enforcement agency imposes the penalty,and“sales”should be interpreted as the“total sales”.This definition is consistent with the principle of proportionality.However,in exceptional cases,law enforcement or judicial authorities may also be permitted to interpret“sales”as“sales involved in the case”through typological summaries,in order to alleviate the disadvantage of excessive penalties that may exist in individual cases.