After China’s “anti-monopoly law” punished Alibaba and three other companies, the battle has spread to other areas. The China Taxi Industry Alliance has called for the continuation of the anti-monopoly investigation into the merger between taxi-hailing platform DDT and Uber, as well as the investigation of other monopolistic practices of the platform.
According to a news report cited by the Central News Agency today, the anti-monopoly extension of Drip Travel, the Chinese Taxi Union called for an investigation. According to the report, the China Taxi Industry Union sent a letter to the State Administration of Market Supervision and the Ministry of Transport on the 17th, saying that the merger between Drip Travel and Uber China in 2016 has been going on for more than four years now and is suspected of monopolistic behavior as stipulated in the anti-monopoly law.
According to the China Taxi Industry Alliance, after the merger between Drip and Uber, Drip’s average monthly active users have increased significantly, making the online taxi sector “dominant”. The market is still absolutely dominant. The China Taxi Industry Alliance alleges that Drip is suspected of abusing its dominant market position and practicing industry monopoly, engaging in unfair competition and capturing market share by engaging in illegal operations.
The China Taxi Industry Alliance also alleges that DDT continues to distribute orders to ineligible vehicles and personnel in several cities in violation of regulations related to the management of online vehicles, and also launched the Hana Piggy platform in March 2020, using subsidies and low prices to seize the market share of cruising vehicles and regular online vehicles in third and fourth-tier cities, seriously violating the principle of fair competition, disrupting the order of the industry and attempting to form a new monopoly.
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, DDT and Youbou China held more than 90% of the market share in China right after their merger on Aug. 1, 2016. Since then, many debates have been set off in the industry about the impact of the merger between the giants on the competitive shape of the industry, including the existence of monopolistic practices. Chinese state regulators have been conducting an antitrust review of the Drip and Youbou China merger, the newspaper said. Beginning in September 2016, almost simultaneously with the Drip and Youbou China merger, China’s state Ministry of Commerce stated that an antitrust investigation had been launched. Since then, China’s Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly said that it is conducting an antitrust investigation into the case in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
In March 2018, with the establishment of the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, the function of anti-monopoly enforcement was transferred from the Ministry of Commerce to the General Administration of Market Supervision, according to the Central News Agency. In particular, the China Taxi Industry Union said in the above-mentioned document that “since then, the public has not yet seen the progress of the investigation and the final result of the case.”
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