Study On The Anti-monopoly Regulation Of The Resale Price Maintenance

Resale price maintenance is a disputable conduct which is neither as clearly anti-competition as the horizontal fixed price nor as good as vertical none price restraint for the competitors. Thus, the scholars analyze its advantages and disadvantages in economics. The traditional theory of competition restraint points out that the producers or the retailers in order to maintain the cartel organization or attain the aim of restraining competition reach the agreement of controlling resale price which is against the competition and causes the result of monopoly, so it should be prohibited. The theory of interest enlargement stresses the influence of this conduct, and points out that resale price maintenance can improve the service of retailers , prevent the conduct of free rider and keep the image of the brand and so on.Because the problem is complex and people's knowledge is limited, there are different kinds of regulating patterns and methods in the world, and the attitude has been changing all the time. Resale price maintenance is illegal in America after the case of Dr.miles heard; In 1930 this conduct can be tolerated; In 1970 it was illegal again; But in the case of Regan company in 2007 , the supreme court analyzed the resale price maintenance by a rule of reason ,by contrast ,all the state courts still used the per se rule , so the rule of reason was co-existing with the per se rule . EU uses the co-existance pattern of general prohibition and extensive exemption .Firstly EU applies to Article 81(1) in《EEC treaty》to judge if the resale price maintenance is included ,if so , analyzing it by the four standards of Article 81(3) ,if not, it should be prohibited.As concerned to China, it is reasonable to regulate the resale price maintenance according to the situation in society , EU's pattern is the best choice for China to learn. There are some related rules in the Anti-monopoly Law of China which is the same with EU's ,but the rules need developing .Therefore in order to draft better rules to regulate resale price maintenance ,we should research on legislation and practice in line with the social situation in China in the future .