Health code and digitalization of antitrust filings and trials: China’s experiments in coping with COVID-19

COVID-19 has upended social and economic norms in many countries, including in China. To cope with the new environment, China has experimented with several measures, most significantly creating a health code system, digitizing merger filings and court filings, and conducting video court hearings. While some of these developments have brought the legal practice in line with the high level of digitization practiced throughout China in daily life, others have implications for antitrust enforcement and data privacy issues in China.
 
In this Antitrust article, Fei Deng and coauthor Wei Hen discuss the implementation of a “health code” system using programs within popular mobile apps and the digitization of merger filings and court hearings in China and the potential longer term effects on society, including on antitrust enforcement and data privacy.