Overview
- China’s Ministry of Justice publicly ordered that no organisation or individual may assist the European Union’s investigation into JD.com’s planned takeover of Germany’s Ceconomy, calling the probe an overreach of extraterritorial jurisdiction.
- The European Commission opened an in‑depth inquiry under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation in May to determine whether alleged state subsidies to JD.com could distort the EU internal market in the Ceconomy deal.
- This blocking order is the second such measure from Beijing after a similar directive in a separate FSR case involving Nuctech, signalling a shift from diplomatic protest to formal legal resistance.
- The EU’s FSR requires firms under review to provide large volumes of information on short deadlines, and the Chinese ban forces companies to choose between meeting EU disclosure demands and following Chinese legal restrictions.
- Analysts say the move heightens China–EU regulatory tensions, could complicate other China-linked transactions and should be watched for follow‑on diplomatic exchanges and enforcement steps from Brussels or Beijing.