Review № 24 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- Revision of the Rules for Handling Inquiries Related to Market Regulation
- The authorities urged travel platforms not to manipulate prices
- Combating Involutional Competition in the Restaurant Industry
- CDR: How China Is Fighting "Involutionary" Competition
- Sales volume in the US on Chinese retail marketplaces continues to grow despite tariffs
Revision of the Rules for Handling Inquiries Related to Market Regulation
SAMR has released a draft of the new version of the Rules for Handling Complaints and Inquiries Related to Market Regulation for public consultation. The document, consisting of 43 articles, will replace the current interim rules: 8 articles have been added, 4 removed, and 13 amended. One of the key changes is the procedure for transferring complaints between local market regulators. For instance, if a goods or services provider on a marketplace does not list an actual address, complaints against them will be handled by the authority located at the registered address of the marketplace operator.
After reviewing the submitted proposals, the rules are planned to be revised and put into effect in order to establish a unified, transparent, and effective system for handling complaints, thereby improving the business and consumer climate.
The authorities urged travel platforms not to manipulate prices
On August 5, the Guizhou Administration for Market Regulation held a meeting with representatives from five online platforms providing tourism services — Ctrip, Tongcheng, Douyin, Meituan, and Fliggy. The companies were instructed to strictly comply with China’s Price Law and Anti-Monopoly Law. During the meeting, the regulator pointed out potential violations, including the practice of "choosing one of two" (forcing exclusive cooperation), interfering with pricing through technology, canceling or raising prices after an order has been confirmed, price fraud, and artificially inflating prices. The platforms were ordered to immediately conduct internal inspections and rectify any identified issues.
On the same day, a meeting was held to regulate prices in the tourism industry. During the meeting, several tourism associations put forward an initiative to counter price manipulation during the summer holiday season. At the same time, the provincial consumer association urged tourists to carefully check prices when choosing accommodation and food, and called on businesses to maintain fair pricing practices.
Sources: WeChat
Combating Involutional Competition in the Restaurant Industry
The Beijing Restaurant Association has called on food service providers to crack down on “involutionary” competition (neijuan).
The association called for an end to price wars, below-cost dumping, algorithm manipulation, and the reduction of product and service quality for the sake of cost savings. Market participants were urged to provide consumers with honest pricing information, avoid false advertising, and refrain from discrediting competitors.
The document proposes focusing on innovation, improving product and service quality, leveraging digital technologies to optimize processes, developing unique competitive advantages, and moving away from short-term traffic acquisition schemes.
Source: WeChat
CDR: How China Is Fighting "Involutionary" Competition
The journal Commercial Dispute Resolution published an article analyzing recent amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL). The experts interviewed believe that the new version will benefit the market. “Simply complying with compliance requirements is no longer enough — to succeed in China’s developing market and navigate legislative changes, companies must demonstrate a sustainable culture of fair competition,” the lawyers comment.
The updated law will come into effect on October 15, but the upcoming changes are already raising questions. In particular, it remains unclear whether its provisions will apply to commercial contracts signed before that date. Additionally, the draft amendments included a definition of the term bargaining power, but this wording was not included in the final text, which will very likely lead to disagreements in the interpretation of the law.
Source: CDR
Sales volume in the US on Chinese retail marketplaces continues to grow despite tariffs
This year, the United States temporarily reduced the newly introduced tariffs on China to 30%. However, the barriers specifically imposed on small cross-border parcels from China were not lowered — previously exempt from tariffs, they are now subject to a duty of 90% of the product’s value or 150 US dollars per item.
Nevertheless, even under such conditions, the industry continued to grow. Small international shipments are the cheapest logistics channel for Chinese cross-border e-commerce, and the US is the largest consumer market in the world for them. According to LatePost, in the first half of the year, the trading volume of the Shein marketplace amounted to about $27 billion, which is 15–20% higher than the previous year. Temu, launched less than three years ago, showed a GMV of around $35 billion during the same period, with a growth of 50%.
Source: WeChat
