Today, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in China announced that they have not given their approval to the P3 Network (P3).
On 24 March 2014, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) decided to allow the P3 Network agreement to become effective in the US, and on 3 June 2014, the European Commission informed the P3 partners that it had decided not to open an antitrust investigation into P3 and had closed its file.
MOFCOM’s decision follows a review under China\’s merger control rules and is different from the positions of the FMC and the European Commission.
The P3 partners take note of and respect MOFCOM’s decision.
Subsequently, the partners have agreed to stop the preparatory work on the P3 Network and the P3 Network as initially planned will not come into existence.