Review № 23 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- Combating "involutionary competition" through strengthened quality control
- Market regulation in the 15th Five-Year Plan
- Antimonopoly Regulation Statistics for the First Half of 2025
- SAMR unveils Guidelines on Online Platform Fees
- The M&A review delegation system has started working
- 6th lecture series on antitrust compliance
Combating "involutionary competition" through strengthened quality control
Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released a series of cases highlighting instances where companies, disregarding industry standards and reputational risks, prioritized short-term profits by cutting costs and producing substandard goods. In response, SAMR plans to tighten market entry controls, raise safety and quality requirements, and intensify spot checks of products sold through online marketplaces. In 2025, the number of inspections is expected to increase by 70% compared to 2024. The agency also intends to implement targeted measures aimed at improving the quality of specific product categories, such as gas appliances, construction materials, and others.
Источник: SAMR
Market regulation in the 15th Five-Year Plan
On July 27–28, discussions were held in Beijing on market regulation efforts during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), alongside initial preparations for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). Participants highlighted notable progress in recent years, including the optimization of the business environment, the strengthening of market discipline, improvements in product quality, and enhanced consumer protection. Particular emphasis was placed on antitrust regulation, especially in addressing local protectionism, market fragmentation, and unfair pricing practices.
During the meeting, the key objectives for the upcoming five years were identified, including improving quality standards, developing digital and antitrust regulation, as well as strengthening product safety control and platform economy regulation. The need to enhance the legislative framework and implement intelligent monitoring technologies was also emphasized.
Источник: SAMR
Antimonopoly Regulation Statistics for the First Half of 2025
In the first half of 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) reviewed 339 filings related to economic concentration transactions, representing a 14.1% increase compared to the previous year. Of these, 329 were approved without additional conditions, 8 were withdrawn by the applicants after review, and 2 were approved with remedies imposed (the merger of Bunge Global with Viterra; the acquisition by ANA Holdings of Nippon Cargo Airlines).
The total value of transactions exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan. By industry sector, the largest number of transactions (115, approx. 35%) pertained to the manufacturing industry. This was followed by industrial production, water, electricity, gas, and heat supply, finance, transportation, wholesale and retail trade, information technology services, real estate, leasing, and other sectors.
Furthermore, according to the antitrust regulation report for the first half of the year, investigations were initiated in 11 cases related to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant market position. Decisions were rendered in 6 cases concerning anti-competitive agreements, 2 cases of abuse of dominant position, and 1 case of obstruction of antitrust investigations. During this period, the regulator imposed fines and ordered confiscations totaling 632 million yuan.
SAMR unveils Guidelines on Online Platform Fees
On July 31, SAMR issued a set of compliance guidelines for online platform fees, aiming to further regulate how e-commerce platforms charge operators for commissions, service fees, memberships, and other costs such as technical support, marketing, and data services.
The document is aimed at reducing the financial burden on providers of goods and services on platforms and preventing unjustified expenses.
The guidelines require platforms to publicly disclose their fee structures, not to charge duplicative fees to merchants, not evade the obligation to provide paid services in full, avoid shifting costs that should be borne by the platform itself onto providers of goods and services, not coerce the purchase of paid services, and not engage in price discrimination against merchants operating under equivalent trading conditions, etc.
Источник: SAMR
The M&A review delegation system has started working
On August 1, China officially launched the delegation system for reviewing filings related to economic concentration transactions, which had previously operated on a pilot basis. Henceforth, market regulation authorities in five administrative units — the provinces of Guangdong and Shaanxi, as well as the centrally administered municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing — will be authorized to handle certain cases of enterprise concentration through a fast-track procedure. This measure is expected to alleviate the burden on the central authority and enhance the speed and efficiency of the review process.
The pilot program was conducted from August 1, 2022, to July 31, 2025. During this period, local agencies reviewed 1,288 deals — 54 percent of the total caseload.
6th lecture series on antitrust compliance
On July 23, the Department I of Antitrust Enforcement at SAMR conducted its sixth annual lecture series on antitrust compliance in Chongqing. During the event, antitrust experts provided detailed explanations of key strategies for preventing compliance risks and offered recommendations to strengthen compliance management. The lectures, held both in-person and online, were attended by representatives from over 800 companies and associations in Chongqing, while more than 1,000 key enterprises received online support.
