China to allow direct sales of car parts amid anti-monopoly push

China has issued guidelines that will enable original car-parts makers to sell their products to consumers and non-authorised dealers as it takes steps to eliminate what it says are monopolistic practices.

From next year, carmakers will have to publicly release vehicle maintenance and technical information of newly introduced models, including those that are imported, according to the guidelines jointly issued yesterday by the National Development and Reform Commission and nine ministries.

The move comes after authorities in the world's largest car market doled out the biggest antitrust fines in the country since relevant rules came into effect six years ago. The latest guidelines are meant to allow fair competition and give consumers more choice, according to the statement.

"This is a good first step towards rules that will benefit consumers," said Yale Zhang, Shanghai-based managing director of researcher Autoforesight Shanghai. "The auto parts makers will be very happy too, as this means they can sell to more channels."

China's car-repair industry has progressed rapidly in the past few years but there "exists a market structure that's not optimal, has irregular development, lacks transparency and honesty and other problems", the ministries said in the statement.

Last month, China levied total fines of 1.24 billion yuan (HK$1.56 billion) on a dozen Japanese car parts makers, while finding Chrysler Group and Volkswagen guilty of antitrust practices and penalising them this month.