China's Market Regulator to Intensify Antitrust Enforcement in APIs, Utilities, and Platform Economy

Beijing, September 20 — At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, Shu Wei, spokesperson and deputy director of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), stated that the administration is comprehensively employing tools such as price enforcement, quality supervision, and standard-setting to effectively combat malicious low pricing and disorderly competition.

Fair Competition Review System Established

Wang Guowei, director of the Planning and Finance Department of SAMR, announced at the press conference that the administration has established a fair competition review system. He emphasized that antitrust enforcement should be more focused on areas such as active pharmaceutical ingredients, and should promote the orderly and lawful conduct of investment and mergers.

Strengthening the Fundamental Role of Competition Policy

From the perspective of the market supervision department's functions, Wang noted that efforts must be made to strengthen fair competition review and uphold the fundamental position of competition policy. He explained that within the broader economic policy framework, competition policy should serve as the underlying and basic rule. All industrial, investment, and fiscal policies must be premised on maintaining fair competition. Any policy measures involving the economic activities of business operators must be assessed for their impact on fair competition, in order to prevent the artificial creation of market barriers.

Enhancing Antitrust Enforcement and Cracking Down on Local Protectionism

At the same time, SAMR will continuously improve the quality and efficiency of antitrust enforcement, resolutely eliminating local protectionism and market fragmentation. The administration will regularly issue risk alerts regarding improper interventions in market competition, and intensify enforcement against acts of administrative power that exclude or restrict competition. It will also enhance the capacity and efficiency of reviewing business concentrations, promoting the lawful and orderly conduct of investment and mergers. With antitrust enforcement already robust and intensive, SAMR will place greater emphasis on monitoring and early warning of monopoly risks, employing measures such as compliance guidance, administrative directives, and warning interviews to effectively prevent monopolistic behavior before it occurs.

Unifying Market Rules to Ensure Smooth Flow of Resources

Wang further stated that it is necessary to unify market rules and systems to ensure the smooth flow of resources and production factors. SAMR will accelerate the establishment of unified rules for enterprise registration, relocation, and deregistration at the market access stage, safeguarding the operational autonomy of businesses. In the production and operation stage, it will expedite the improvement of the national standards system to ensure better coordination and alignment of various standards. In the circulation and consumption stage, SAMR will focus on improving regulatory rules for online trading markets, achieving integrated online and offline oversight.

Comprehensive Crackdown on "Involution-Style" Competition

Shu Wei stated that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030), SAMR will focus on the following three areas to accelerate the shift of market competition from "competing on price" to "competing on quality."

1. Strengthening Price Enforcement

SAMR will accelerate the revision of the Price Law and study amendments to the Provisions on Curbing Low-Price Dumping. For enterprises that initiate malicious low-price competition and disrupt production and operational order, cost investigations and price inspections will be conducted, and strict penalties will be imposed in accordance with the law. The administration will also promote the implementation of the Rules on Price Conduct for Internet Platforms to continuously regulate price competition in the platform economy. Additionally, it will study and formulate the Interim Provisions on the Implementation of the Price Supervisor System to reinforce enterprises' primary responsibility for price compliance.

2. Strengthening Quality Supervision

SAMR will further enhance source management by optimizing the management of industrial product production licenses and dynamically adjusting the catalogue of compulsory product certification, ensuring quality access for products. At the same time, it will strengthen quality risk monitoring and random inspections, increasing the frequency of checks on products with abnormally low prices, high safety risks, or historically low pass rates. The proportion of inspections in key areas such as e-commerce platforms and wholesale markets will be raised. SAMR will improve the consistency of online and offline supervision, accelerate the establishment of a unified national product quality and safety traceability system, and reinforce the primary responsibilities of platform enterprises in verifying product information and cooperating with recalls. It will also carry out special campaigns to address quality and safety issues in industrial products sold online, and strictly crack down on illegal and non-compliant online product sales.

3. Strengthening Anti-Unfair Competition Enforcement

SAMR will thoroughly implement the newly revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law and continuously improve supporting regulatory rules. It will regularly deploy special enforcement actions against unfair competition, focusing on key issues such as false advertising, mutual defamation, commercial slander, and commercial bribery, and will investigate and penalize a number of typical cases. The administration will also strengthen the protection of trade secrets, explore and introduce local regulations and management norms for trade secret protection, and actively promote pilot projects and service stations for trade secret protection innovation.

(Source: China Securities Journal)