Interim Provisions on Anti-Unfair Competition on Internet
ISSUING AUTHORITIES:
State Administration for Market Regulation
DATE OF ISSUANCE:
May 6, 2024
EFFECTIVE DATE:
September 1, 2024
In order to prevent and stop unfair competition on network, maintain the market order of fair competition, encourage innovation, protect the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the digital economy, on May 6, 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Interim Provisions on Anti-Unfair Competition on the Internet (the “Provisions”), which shall be effective from September 1, 2024.
The Provisions consists of five chapters and 43 articles, covering the general provisions, acts of unfair competition on internet, supervision and inspection, and legal liability and supplementary provisions. The main contents are as follows:
1. Clarifying the Overall Requirements
With the basic goals of maintaining the market order of fair competition, encouraging innovation, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers, and promoting the standardized, healthy and sustainable development of the digital economy, the Provisions innovates the regulatory model, clarifies the collaborative regulatory working mechanism, coordinates the forces of all parties, and strives to improve comprehensive treatment efficiency.
2. Comprehensively Sorting Out and Listing Acts of Unfair Competition on Internet
Based on the complex and changeable characteristics of network competition, the Provisions classified and refined the unfair network competition behaviors, and clearly identified the standards. The first is to clarify the new forms of traditional unfair competition behaviors such as counterfeiting and confusion, false propaganda in the network environment, and strive to eliminate regulatory blind areas; the second is to elaborate the unfair network competition behaviors regulated by the anti-unfair competition law; and the third is to regulate new forms of unfair competition such as illegal data collection and discriminatory treatment which are implemented by technological means. At the same time, the Provisions set up a catch all clause to provide a regulatory basis for new problems and new behaviors that may appear.
3. Strengthening Platform Responsibility
Platform enterprises, which control huge amounts of data and connect many subjects, are not only the key targets of network unfair competition regulation, but also the key connecting points of collaborative regulation. The Provisions highlighted the main responsibilities of the platforms, urges the platform enterprises to strengthen the standardized management of competition behaviors within the platform, and regulate the data algorithms abuse to obtain competitive advantages.
4. Improving Law Enforcement and Case-handling Procedures
In view of the characteristics of unfair competition on the internet such as wide exposure, cross-platform and cross-regional, special provisions are made for supervision and inspection procedures, and jurisdiction is determined according to the connection points of major cases. Expert observer systems shall be established to provide intellectual and technical support to solve difficult problems of unfair competition cases on internet.
5. Clarify Legal Responsibilities
Laws and regulations in the field of market supervision shall play important roles, and the E-commerce Law, the Anti-monopoly Law, and the Administrative Penalty Law shall work effectively under the framework of the Anti-unfair Competition Law. At the same time, the legal responsibility for the confiscation of illegal gains is clarified, and the supervision effect shall be strengthened.
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