Review №1 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- Antitrust inspection of the food delivery industry has begun
- Investigation Against Ctrip
- China Standardizes Online Certification Inspection of Goods
- Measures for the Regulation of Rules of Online Trading Platforms Released
- Measures on the Regulation of Marketing Livestreams Released
- Growing Awareness of Platforms as Gatekeepers
- Ten Measures to Combat “Involutionary” Competition in 2025
Antitrust Inspection of the Food Delivery Industry Has Begun
The General Office of the Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Commission under the State Council has launched work described as an “investigation and assessment” of the state of market competition in the online food delivery platform services industry (market competition probe and assessment). A statement published on the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) notes that the investigation was initiated pursuant to the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law.
Unfair competitive practices by food delivery platforms — such as price wars and control over internet traffic — have for more than a year triggered broad public concern. Particular attention has been paid to the issue of excessive subsidies used in attempts to eliminate competitors. As representatives of the General Office noted, “these practices exert pressure on the real economy and exacerbate involutionary competition within the industry.” According to them, the authority will conduct on-site inspections, interviews, and surveys, and will also solicit opinions from all relevant stakeholders, including merchants, employees, and consumers. Leading industry players responded immediately to the authorities’ announcement and pledged full cooperation with the investigation.
The prospect of restoring order to the market had a positive impact on the stock market: Meituan shares rose by 8%, Alibaba by 5%, and JD.com by 3%.
Sources: SAMR 1, SAMR 2, Investing
Investigation Against Ctrip
SAMR has launched an investigation into the travel booking platform Ctrip (trip.com) on suspicion of abusing a dominant market position.
At present, there is no authoritative public data on Ctrip’s market share. According to a widely cited report by BOCOM International, based on GMV for 2024, the distribution of market shares in China’s online travel agency market is as follows: Ctrip (56%), Tongcheng Travel (15%), Meituan (13%), Fliggy (8%), and Douyin (3%). However, analysts question the accuracy of these figures, noting that Ctrip and Meituan should have comparable market shares, effectively forming a kind of “duopoly.”
Representatives of the platform have been summoned to meetings with the market regulator on multiple occasions, and accommodation providers have complained that the platform unilaterally changes published prices. The Yunnan Province Accommodation Association reports steadily growing dissatisfaction. For example, over several years the platform’s commission has gradually increased from 8–10% to 12–18%, while actual costs (including hidden advertising fees) for some guesthouses reach as high as 40%, placing them in a dilemma: “without the platform, there are no customers; with the platform, there is no profit.”
For abuse of a dominant market position, the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law provides for fines ranging from 1% to 10% of the previous year’s turnover. According to Southern Metropolis, Ctrip’s annual turnover in 2024 amounted to approximately RMB 53.3 billion (USD 7.7 billion), meaning the platform could face fines of hundreds of millions or even billions of yuan.
China Standardizes Online Certification Inspection of Goods
China has introduced its first industry standard regulating the online inspection of product certification by internet platforms.
In accordance with the PRC E-Commerce Law and the Regulations on Certification and Accreditation, e-commerce platforms are required to verify whether goods are subject to mandatory certification. This typically entails significant costs, particularly because platforms operate online and manual inspections are costly and inefficient.
To address this issue, SAMR, together with leading marketplaces (JD.com, Taobao, Douyin, Kuaishou), developed an online interface for verifying CCC quality certification. The system enables 24/7 real-time checks of the existence and validity of certifications. From January to November 2025, 310 million checks were conducted.
The standard is intended to help platforms efficiently resolve issues arising during online inspections, such as inconsistent terminology, non-standard technical methods, and unaligned operational requirements. As a result, marketplaces will gain access to reliable and accurate inspection information, enabling more effective protection of consumer rights.
Source: SAMR
Measures for the Regulation of Rules of Online Trading Platforms Released
SAMR and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) jointly released the Measures for the Regulation of Rules of E-Commerce Platforms (hereinafter, the “Measures”).
The Measures clarify the obligations that platform operators must fulfill in the process of formulating, implementing, and modifying platform rules — for example, establishing consultation channels on key rule-related issues and mechanisms for resolving intra-platform transaction disputes.
The document also sets out detailed requirements for ensuring information security, cybersecurity, and data security. In addition, it explicitly prohibits the use of platform rules to levy unreasonable fees, restrict consumer rights, engage in price discrimination, and similar practices.
The Measures provide that both authorities may summon responsible platform personnel for meetings, requiring them to explain the situation and take corrective actions.
Source: SAMR
Measures on the Regulation of Marketing Livestreams Released
SAMR, together with the CAC, has released measures regulating live commerce—sales conducted via livestreaming.
The document defines the responsibilities and obligations of four types of entities:
Source: SAMR
Growing Awareness of Platforms as Gatekeepers
At the 29th National Market Regulation Work Conference, SAMR announced that among its key tasks for 2026 are promoting higher-quality development of business entities and fostering greater awareness among platforms of their role as “gatekeepers.”
The first task includes simplifying market access, improving the credit ratings of business entities, strengthening protection of intellectual property rights and trade secrets, and related measures.
The second task forms part of a broader set of initiatives to strengthen regulation of the platform economy, including regulation of platform rules and accelerating the creation of an integrated platform supervision system based on a unified database.
The importance of strengthening antitrust regulation continues to be emphasized—specifically, supporting the development of fair competition, combating abuse of administrative power that harms competition at the local level, and eliminating the phenomenon of “involutionary” competition.
Source: SAMR
Ten Measures to Combat “Involutionary” Competition in 2025
At a thematic press conference, SAMR outlined ten key documents issued in 2025 to combat “involutionary” (excessive or malign) competition:
- A revised version of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law;
- Measures for the Compulsory Deregistration of Legal Entities;
- Methods for Conducting Fair Competition Reviews*;
- Draft Guidelines on Antitrust Compliance for Internet Platforms (for public consultation);
- Guiding Opinions on Improving the Quality of Goods and Services on Online Trading Platforms;
- Recommended national standard Basic Requirements for the Management of Food Delivery Platform Services (GB/T 46862—2025);
- Regulations on the Quality and Safety Supervision of Key Industrial Products on Online Trading Platforms;
- Plan for Improving Standards for the Production of Electric Vehicles, Lithium Batteries, and Photovoltaic Products;
- Measures to Enhance Institutional Openness of the Standardization System;
- Announcement on Promoting the “Same Production Line, Same Standard, Same Quality” System for Goods for Domestic Sale and Export.
Источник: WeChat
*Review of regulatory documents to ensure the absence of provisions that hinder competition
