Medical instrument maker fined $17.3m

Foreign companies should carefully study the antitrust law while operating in China, a senior official with the nation's top antitrust enforcer said after it announced on Wednesday the first penalty in the medical instrument manufacturing industry.

The China unit of US company Medtronic, a leading supplier of high-end medical devices such as an insulin pumping system, was fined 119 million yuan ($17.3 million), or 4 percent of the company's annual sales in China last year, for eliminating market competition in the medical industry, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Investigations found that the company had fixed resale prices through monopoly agreements with its dealers.