Medtronic fined $17M by Chinese regulators

Medical device maker, Medtronic’s Chinese unit has been fined $17 million for pricing violations.

The fine comes from anti-monopoly regulators in the latest effort in Beijing to decrease unreasonably high prices.

Regulators claim that the company improperly suppressed competition through agreements with distributors that set minimum prices.

Foreign automakers, milk suppliers and other companies have seen similar penalties imposed on them. Whist setting minimum retail prices is a common practice in other markets, Beijing sees them as a barrier to competition, lawyers say.

In January this year the company signed a long-term partnership with the Chengdu municipal government to provide diabetes management to the diabetic population in China.

China’s anti-monopoly law was put in place in 2008 to prohibit monopoly agreements where businesses or trading partners could impose certain restrictions on competition. This includes fixed prices, limited production and sales, shared markets and restricted technology purchases or development to suppress competition.