China to investigate costs of firms leading malicious low-price competition

Beijing, September 20 — The State Council Information Office held a press conference today as part of the "Starting Strong in the 15th Five-Year Plan" series, outlining efforts to promote high-quality development in market regulation during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030).

Crackdown on Malicious Low Pricing

Shu Wei, an official at the press conference, noted that a special campaign has been launched this year to crack down on low-quality and low-price products. By the end of August, authorities nationwide had investigated and handled 29,000 cases involving illegal activities related to low quality and low prices.

Through the comprehensive use of tools such as price enforcement, quality supervision, and standards guidance, malicious low pricing and disorderly competition have been effectively curbed.

Three Priority Areas for the 15th Five-Year Plan Period

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, efforts will focus on three specific areas to accelerate the shift from "price wars" to a healthy track centered on "quality competition."

1. Strengthen Price Enforcement

• Accelerate revision of the Price Law and study revisions to the Provisions on Curbing Low-Price Dumping.
• Guide industry associations to formulate cost calculation standards, promoting a "1+1+N" legal framework for regulating low-price dumping.
• Conduct cost investigations and price inspections on enterprises that lead malicious low-price competition and disrupt production and business operations, with strict handling according to law.
• Implement the Rules on Pricing Behavior of Internet Platforms to continuously regulate price competition in the platform economy.
• Formulate Interim Provisions on implementing the system of price supervisors to reinforce enterprises' primary responsibility for price compliance.

2. Strengthen Quality Supervision

• Enhance source governance by optimizing management of production licenses for chemical industry products and dynamically adjusting the catalog of mandatory product certifications to ensure strict quality entry controls.
• Strengthen quality risk monitoring and supervisory spot checks, with increased intensity for products with:
• Abnormally low prices
• High safety risks
• Historically low pass rates
• Focus a higher proportion of checks on key sectors such as e-commerce platforms and wholesale markets.
• Improve consistency between online and offline supervision.
• Accelerate development of a national unified product quality and safety traceability system.
• Reinforce platform enterprises' primary responsibilities for verifying product information and cooperating with recalls.
• Deepen special campaigns targeting the quality and safety of industrial products sold online, and severely crack down on illegal and non-compliant practices in online commodity sales.

3. Strengthen Anti-Unfair Competition

• Thoroughly implement the newly revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law and continuously refine supporting regulatory rules and systems.
• Deploy regular special enforcement actions against unfair competition, focusing on:
• False advertising
• Mutual disparagement
• Commercial defamation
• Commercial bribery
• Investigate and punish a batch of typical cases according to law.
• Strengthen protection of trade secrets by exploring and issuing regulations and management norms based on local conditions.
• Actively promote innovative pilot programs and service stations for trade secret protection.

Conclusion

Shu Wei emphasized: "Price wars cannot build a future; only high quality can win the market." Full efforts will be made to establish "premium quality commands premium prices" and "winning through quality" as market consensus.