In order to prevent and stop unfair competition online, maintain the market order of fair competition, encourage innovation, protect the legitimate rights and interests of business operators and consumers, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the digital economy, the State Administration for Market Regulation recently issued the "Interim Provisions on Online Anti-Unfair Competition" (hereinafter referred to as the "Provisions").
The "Provisions" have the following characteristics: First, insist on encouraging innovation. Protect the innovation achievements of enterprises, and strive to promote the Internet industry to maximize its innovation potential. Second, efforts should be made to regulate competition. Comply with the new characteristics, trends, and requirements of the development of the mainland's digital economy, and improve the standards and regulatory requirements for the designation of all types of online acts of unfair competition. It clarifies the new manifestations of traditional unfair competition behaviors such as counterfeiting, confusion, and false propaganda in the online environment, and lists new types of online unfair competition behaviors such as reverse order brushing and illegal data acquisition. and set up catch-all clauses to provide a regulatory basis for new problems and new behaviors that may arise. The third is to strengthen the protection of consumer rights and interests. In response to social concerns, it regulates key issues such as swiping orders and speculation, praise and cashback, and affecting user choices in online consumption in mainland China, so as to provide policy support for solving the new problems of new scenarios and new business formats of online consumption. Fourth, strengthen the responsibility of the platform. Urge platforms to strengthen the regulation and management of competitive conduct within the platform, and at the same time regulate issues such as the abuse of data algorithms to gain competitive advantages. Fifth, optimize law enforcement and case handling. Special provisions are made on supervision and inspection procedures in view of the characteristics of online acts of unfair competition, such as their wide coverage, cross-platform, and cross-regional. Establish an expert observer system to provide intellectual support and technical support for solving key problems. Sixth, clarify legal responsibilities. Give full play to the role of laws and regulations in the field of market regulation, and effectively connect with laws such as the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the E-Commerce Law, the Anti-Monopoly Law, and the Administrative Punishment Law. At the same time, the legal responsibility for confiscation of illegal gains is clarified, and the effect of supervision is strengthened.
The Provisions will come into force on September 1, 2024. The State Administration for Market Regulation will strengthen the training and guidance of local market regulation departments, strive to do a good job in regulating and investigating online unfair competition, effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of business operators and consumers, promote orderly competition and innovative development of all types of business entities, and promote the high-quality development of the digital economy with high-quality and efficient anti-unfair competition supervision and law enforcement.
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Produced by the New Media Editorial Department of China Consumer Daily
Source/City Speaks New Language
Editor/Pei Ying
Producer/He Yongpeng, Ren Zhenyu