The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Is it a concentration (control change)?

Legal test.

Control
02

Turnover thresholds met?

Resolve the turnover thresholds met question separately before choosing the route.

Thresholds
03

File before closing?

Standstill.

Standstill
04

Clean team needed?

Resolve the clean team needed question separately before choosing the route.

Clean

Working rule: China’s Anti-Monopoly Law requires notification of covered concentrations when turnover thresholds are met (with evolving rules and exceptions).

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Broader Antitrust & Competition analysis needed
Second related guide.
Do not.
Close then file
Gun-jumping.
Stop.
Ignore JV as concentration
Common miss.
Map control.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Deal structure chartControl.
02Turnover figures by jurisdiction rulesThresholds.
03Draft SPA timingClosing vs clearance.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Are thresholds only China turnover?

Rules look at China and global figures as specified — use current SAMR standards.

Where are thresholds?

Use the linked specialist resource when SAMR Merger Control in China — Filing Basics turns on detailed evidence, procedure or risk assessment.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

SAMR
NDRC / MOFCOM FDI & NSR channels
National laws database (NPC)
Company registration / SAMR enterprise systems