On Sept 3, 2024, the Legal Committee of the Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC), in collaboration with the IP Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association, held an online workshop on hot topics in the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Dr. Leslie Xu, head of Chang Tsi & Partners Shanghai office, was invited to participate and gave a keynote presentation on the newly implemented Interim Regulations on Anti-Unfair Competition on the Internet ("the Regulation"). Over 100 representatives from the QBPC members attended the workshop.

The Regulation is the first set of regulations issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation specifically targeting unfair competition behaviors on the internet and has attracted much attention. The Regulation aims to maintain a fair competitive market order and promote the standardized, healthy, and sustainable development of the digital economy of China. It has come into effect on September 1, 2024. 

Dr. Xu provided a detailed explanation of the Regulation. He began by outlining the macro and practical background, positioning, and significance of the Regulation. He noted the challenges in guiding administrative enforcement against unfair competition on the internet under current laws and emphasized that the Regulation, as the first departmental rules in the field of internet competition, align with the trends in the latest amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, offering important guidance and practical value.

Dr. Xu then elaborated on the main content of the Regulation, covering general requirements, specific unfair competition behaviors on the internet, platform responsibilities, enforcement procedures, and legal liabilities. He focused on hot topics such as fake orders and manipulated reviews (sellers' deceitful techniques to boost ratings), fake reviews for cashback, and the fabrication of traffic and interaction data, as well as other internet-related unfair competition behaviors like traffic hijacking, intentional interference, and malicious incompatibility.

Following this, he shared general adjudication rules, judicial response principles, and special protections for data rights based on typical cases of new forms of internet competition, as clarified by the Regulation. Finally, Dr. Xu offered suggestions on rights protection and compliance for QBPC members in light of the Regulation, analyzed the enforcement trends of local market regulation departments in the internet sector, and recommended that companies pay attention to the coordination between administrative and judicial processes. He also advised on improving compliance systems and conducting preemptive compliance reviews.

For more details about the Regulation, please contact Dr. Leslie Xu at lesliexu@changtsi.com.