On January 7, 2009, the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) posted draft Guidelines on Relevant Market Definition on its website, offering interested persons the opportunity to submit comments until January 31, 2009.

The four-chapter Guidelines comprises 11 articles, Purposes and Basis of the Guidelines , Functions of the Relevant Market Definition, Concept and Types of Relevant Markets, Substitution Analysis, Method to Define a Relevant Market, Factors To Consider in the Definition of the Relevant Product Market, Factors To Consider in the Definition of Relevant Geographic Market, Hypothetical Monopolist Test. 

Under the Guidelines, any competitive behavior, including any behavior that currently or potentially could eliminate or restrict competition, occurs within a particular market scope. Defining a relevant market is a process of determining the market scope within which business operators compete with each other. Therefore, defining the relevant market is a precondition for conducting an analysis of competitive behavior and an important stage in anti-monopoly enforcement work.

(China IP News)