市場界定在反壟斷並購審查中的地位和作用

為了判斷一個企業並購是否損害市場競爭，反壟斷執法機關一般都需要界定相關市場。因為市場界定可以說明市場競爭的範圍，說明企業的市場份額和市場集中度，說明市場進入障礙和潛在的競爭，並由此提供一個智慧和系統的分析工具，說明執法機構收集和評估競爭影響的各種證據。界定相關市場不僅是並購競爭分析的第一步，而且是關鍵性的步驟。市場界定作為並購競爭分析的基本方法，它不否認各種經濟學方法的作用和功能，特別是UPP測試和並購模擬在這方面都有重要的應用價值。但是，不管這些經濟學方法多麼重要，它們的應用都只是並購競爭分析中的證據，而不能替代並購競爭分析中的相關市場界定。

In order to analyze whether a M&A will be harmful to market competition, it is usually necessary for the anti-monopoly enforcement agency to define the relevant market. Market definition is helpful to identifing the relevant product and geographical markets, to knowing the competitors and their respective market share and the market concentration, and to evaluating the barriers to entry and the potential competition. Therefore, market definition is not only the first step, but also the key step in the M&A competition investigation, and it provides a wise and systematical analytical tool in the process of collecting and evaluating all of evidence. As the basic reference in the M&A analysis, market definition does not eliminate various economics methods, such as the UPP test and merger simulations. But no matter how important these economic approaches are, their application is only helpful in getting supplementary information and evidence in the M&A competition investigation, rather than replacing the market definition.