Review № 26 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- Draft Rules on Internet Platforms Pricing
- Press Conference on Market Regulation Achievements under China’s 14th Five-Year Plan
- Meeting on Competition Policy in Socially Significant Markets
- Draft Antimonopoly Guidelines for the Public Utilities Sector
Draft Rules on Internet Platforms Pricing
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), in collaboration with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), has published the Draft Rules on Internet Platforms Pricing for public comment..
Actions deemed unacceptable for online platforms include both explicit and implicit coercion of suppliers to lower prices, offer discounts, or set minimum prices. The draft also requires platforms and suppliers to publicly disclose pricing rules and promotional mechanisms, including discounts, subsidies, differentiated pricing, dynamic pricing, and ranking based on bidding, among others. The draft specifically addresses the issue of predatory pricing: platforms and their participants are prohibited from selling goods or services below cost with the intent to drive out competitors or monopolize the market.
The document also clarifies that if a platform’s business model is based on the long-term provision of free services to users, promotes innovation, and enhances the long-term welfare of both sellers and consumers, such practices will not be considered a violation of the Pricing Law.
Press Conference on Market Regulation Achievements under China’s 14th Five-Year Plan
At a recent press conference held by the General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, as part of the thematic series "High-Quality Implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan," representatives from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) spoke about the achievements in market regulation during the 2021–2025 period.
According to Luo Wen, head of SAMR, over five years of continuous efforts, the administration has eliminated a number of bottlenecks and barriers that hinder the free flow of factors of production and resources.
“The Chinese market has a vast scale and significant development potential — this is one of the key advantages of our economy. To fully leverage this advantage, it is essential to decisively eliminate local protectionism and to promptly prevent and curb anti-competitive practices,” Luo Wen emphasized.
“The platform economy of China is at a critical stage of transformation and development,” commented Deng Zhiyun, Deputy Head of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Chairperson of the State Committee for Standardization.
According to him, over the past five years, digital technologies have rapidly integrated with various industries, leading to the emergence of innovative business models. However, this has also brought about potential risks—such as traffic prioritization and algorithm abuse. To combat these issues, SAMR regularly implements targeted restrictions, requiring platforms to cease unfair practices (for example, “refunds without product returns,” “mandatory delivery insurance,” and others) as well as to improve the fairness and transparency of the fees charged
Meeting on Competition Policy in Socially Significant Markets
On August 21, in the city of Huainan, Anhui Province (eastern China), a meeting was held where market regulators discussed the achievements and future tasks of the campaign to strengthen antitrust law enforcement on socially significant markets.
The meeting participants noted that since the beginning of the year, special attention has been given in the regions to sectors key to the population — healthcare and pharmaceuticals, public utilities, and the platform economy. The strengthened antitrust supervision in these areas has yielded significant results.
It was emphasized that it is essential to steadily promote the formation of a unified national market, focus on the needs of citizens and the interests of a wide range of economic entities, strengthen antitrust regulation and law enforcement, maintain a competitive market order, and support high-quality economic development.
Source: SAMR
Draft Antimonopoly Guidelines for the Public Utilities Sector
The draft was published on August 20 for public consultation: feedback from the general public will be collected until September 3.
At present, most utility sectors exhibit certain characteristics of natural monopolies. According to statistics, the most common violation in the utility sectors is abuse of dominant position, especially in water, gas, energy, and heat supply. To help economic entities properly understand the boundaries of acceptable behavior, the draft includes three sets of provisions:
- Clarification of factors for identifying a dominant position;
- Clarification of signs of abuse (the main forms of abuse are listed, and for each form, evaluation criteria are provided);
- Criteria of "reasonableness" (whether a specific action can be considered justified). For example, citing "ensuring safety" cannot be regarded as sufficient grounds for imposing additional services unless the company proves that such measures are truly necessary to prevent security threats.
