A center for research and consultation on competition and anti-monopoly issues was recently established in Shanghai to provide support for building a fair market environment and boosting development of business innovation.

The Shanghai Zhangjiang Competition and Anti-monopoly Research and Consultation Center was jointly established by the administrative committee of the Zhangjiang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone and the Price Supervision and Anti-Monopoly Bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Based on the existing Zhangjiang Development Strategy Research Institute, the center will integrate a series of superior resources, and build itself into a leading base for competition policy consultation and anti-monopoly research in the Yangtze River Delta region and even the country, an official said.

The center will study related theories and practical cases of competition policies, and improve the enforcement of price supervision decisions and anti-monopoly inspections. 

Meanwhile, it will also help the Price Supervision and Anti-Monopoly Bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission to update and grasp the latest information in related fields, and further optimize the country’s competition policy and anti-monopoly regulations.

It will play an important role in guiding industry development in the Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, and stimulate a vital innovation and entrepreneurship spirit, the official said.

So far, the country has been working on establishing a competition policy as a foundation position in the market.

"Competition is the power that drives business innovation. Only in a market environment with fair competition, can an enterprise’s innovation produce greater economic benefits, and an entrepreneurial spirit and innovative vitality be fully activated,” said Li Qing, vice director of the bureau.

Since the implementation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law in 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission and province-level price supervision departments have handled nearly 100 anti-monopoly cases, with economic sanctions reaching nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.53 billion), Li said.