The People's Republic of China Anti-Unfair Competition Law issued

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 27th Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China (Passed at the Third Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on September 2, 1993, First Amendment passed at the Thirty-First Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on November 4, 2017, amended according to the decision of the Tenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on April 23, 2019, and the Second Amendment passed at the Sixteenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress on June 27, 2025) Table of Contents Chapter I General Provisions Chapter II Unfair Competition Behaviors Chapter III Investigation of Suspected Unfair Competition Behaviors Chapter IV Legal Liabilities Chapter V Supplementary Provisions Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 In order to promote the healthy development of the socialist market economy, encourage and protect fair competition, prevent and stop unfair competition behaviors, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers, this law is formulated. Article 2 Operators in their production and business activities shall follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, and good faith, abide by laws and commercial ethics, and participate in market competition fairly. Unfair competition behaviors referred to in this law are behaviors of operators in their production and business activities that violate the provisions of this law, disrupt the order of market competition, and harm the legitimate rights and interests of other operators or consumers. Operators referred to in this law are natural persons, legal persons, and other organizations engaging in the production, operation, or provision of services (hereinafter referred to as goods, including services). Article 3 Anti-unfair competition work adheres to the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The state shall improve the rules and regulations against unfair competition, strengthen law enforcement and judicial protection against unfair competition, maintain the order of market competition, and establish a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system. The state shall establish and improve the fair competition review system, strengthen fair competition review work in accordance with the law, and ensure that all types of operators have equal access to production factors and participate in market competition fairly. Article 4 People's governments at all levels shall take measures to prevent and stop unfair competition behaviors and create a good environment and conditions for fair competition. The State Council shall establish and improve the coordination mechanism for anti-unfair competition work to coordinate and deal with major issues in maintaining the order of market competition. Article 5 Departments responsible for market supervision and administration at the county level and above shall supervise and inspect unfair competition behaviors; if laws and administrative regulations stipulate that other departments are responsible for supervision and inspection, such provisions shall be followed. Article 6 The state encourages, supports, and protects all organizations and individuals in supervising and reporting on unfair competition behaviors. State organs and their staff shall not support or shelter unfair competition behaviors. Industry organizations shall strengthen self-discipline, guide and regulate operators in the industry to compete according to the law, and maintain the order of market competition. Chapter II Unfair Competition Behaviors Article 7 Operators shall not engage in the following confusion behaviors, causing others to mistake their goods for those of others or to have a specific connection with others: (1) Unauthorized use of a name, packaging, decoration, or other identifiable marks that have a certain influence on others' goods; (2) Unauthorized use of names (including abbreviations, trade names, etc.), real names (including pen names, stage names, online names, transliterations, etc.) that have a certain influence on others; (3) Unauthorized use of the domain name subject part, website name, webpage, new media account name, application name, or icon that has a certain influence on others; (4) Other confusion behaviors that are sufficient to make people mistake the goods for others or have a specific connection with others. Unilaterally using another person's registered trademark or well-known unregistered trademark as part of a company name, or setting another person's product name, company name (including abbreviations, trade names, etc.), registered trademark, or well-known unregistered trademark as a search keyword, causing others to mistake the product for others or to have a specific connection with others is considered a confusion behavior as stipulated in the preceding paragraph. Operators shall not assist others in implementing confusion behaviors. Article 8 Operators shall not offer property or other means of bribery to the following units or individuals in order to seek trading opportunities or competitive advantages: (1) Employees of their trading counterparts; (2) Units or individuals entrusted by their trading counterparts to handle related matters; (3) Units or individuals who use their authority or influence to impact trading. The units and individuals specified in the preceding paragraph shall not accept bribes. In trading activities, operators may pay discounts to their trading counterparts in an explicit manner, or pay commissions to intermediaries. Operators who pay discounts to their trading counterparts or pay commissions to intermediaries shall truthfully record them. Operators who accept discounts or commissions shall also truthfully record them. Employees of operators who engage in bribery shall be deemed to be acting on behalf of the operators; however, operators can prove that the actions of their employees are unrelated to seeking trading opportunities or competitive advantages on behalf of the operators, except under certain circumstances. Article 9 Operators shall not make false or misleading commercial advertisements regarding the performance, functions, quality, sales conditions, user evaluations, honors received, etc. of their products, deceiving or misleading consumers and other operators. Operators shall not help other operators engage in false or misleading commercial advertisements by organizing false transactions, fake evaluations, etc. Article 10 Operators shall not engage in the following acts that infringe on trade secrets: (1) Obtaining the rights holder's trade secrets by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion, or other unfair means; (2) Disclosing, using, or allowing others to use the trade secrets obtained by the above means; (3) Violating confidentiality obligations or the recipients' requirements to keep trade secrets, disclosing, using, or allowing others to use the trade secrets they hold; (4) Inciting, inducing, or assisting others to violate confidentiality obligations or the recipients' requirements to keep trade secrets, to obtain, disclose, use, or allow others to use the trade secrets of the rights holder. Natural persons, legal persons, and other organizations outside operators who commit the illegal acts listed in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to have infringed on trade secrets. If a third party knows or should know that an employee, former employee, or other unit or individual of the trade secret rights holder has committed the illegal acts listed in the first paragraph of this article, and still obtains, discloses, uses, or allows others to use the trade secrets, it shall be deemed an infringement of trade secrets. Trade secrets referred to in this law mean technical information, business information, and other business information that is not known to the public, has commercial value, and has been properly classified by the rights holder with appropriate secrecy measures. Article 11 Operators engaged in prize sales shall not engage in the following: (1) The type, redemption conditions, prize amount, or prizes in prize sales information are unclear, affecting redemption; (2) Changing the type, redemption conditions, prize amount, or prizes in prize sales information without justified reasons after the start of the prize sales activity; (3) Using deceiving methods such as falsely claiming to have prizes or intentionally allowing predetermined winners to win in prize sales; (4) If the top prize in a lottery-style prize sale exceeds fifty thousand yuan. Article 12 Operators shall not fabricate, disseminate, or instruct others to fabricate or disseminate false or misleading information that damages the commercial reputation and product reputation of other operators. Article 13 Operators using the internet for production and business activities shall comply with the provisions of this law. Operators shall not engage in behaviors that hinder or disrupt the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by other operators, such as using data and algorithms, technology, platform rules, etc., to affect user choices or other methods: (1) Inserting links or forcing target redirection without the consent of other operators in their legally provided network products or services; (2) Misleading, deceiving, or forcing users to modify, close, or uninstall the network products or services legally provided by other operators; (3) Maliciously making other operators' legally provided network products or services incompatible; (4) Other behaviors that hinder or disrupt the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by other operators. Operators shall not acquire and use data lawfully held by other operators through fraud, coercion, evading, or destroying technical management measures, causing harm to the legitimate rights of other operators and disrupting the order of market competition. Operators shall not abuse platform rules, directly or instructing others to engage in fraudulent transactions, fake evaluations, or malicious returns against other operators, causing harm to the legitimate rights of other operators and disrupting the order of market competition. Article 14 Platform operators shall not force or indirectly force operators within the platform to sell goods at prices below costs according to their pricing rules, disrupting the order of market competition. Article 15 Large enterprises and other operators shall not abuse their advantage positions in terms of funds, technology, trading channels, industry influence, etc., to request small and medium-sized enterprises to accept obviously unreasonable payment terms, methods, conditions, default responsibilities, etc., and delay payments for goods, projects, services, etc., of small and medium-sized enterprises. Chapter III Investigation of Suspected Unfair Competition Behaviors Article 16 Supervisory departments investigating suspected unfair competition behaviors may take the following measures: (1) Enter the business premises suspected of unfair competition for inspection; (2) Interview the operator under investigation, relevant parties, and other relevant units or individuals, requesting them to explain the situation or provide other information related to the investigation; (3) Check, copy, and retrieve agreements, books, documents, records, business correspondence, and other materials related to the suspected unfair competition behaviors; (4) Seal, seize, and detain property related to the suspected unfair competition behaviors; (5) Check the bank accounts of operators involved in suspected unfair competition behaviors. When taking measures as specified in the preceding paragraph, the supervisory department shall submit a written report to the main person in charge of the supervisory department and obtain approval. When taking measures as specified in the fourth and fifth items of the preceding paragraph, the supervisory department shall submit a written report to the main person in charge of the supervisory department at the district-level or higher people's government for approval. Supervisory departments investigating suspected unfair competition behaviors shall abide by the provisions of the Administrative Coercion Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, and shall disclose the investigation results to the public in a timely manner in accordance with the law. Article 17 Supervisory departments investigating suspected unfair competition behaviors shall require the operator under investigation, related parties, and other relevant units or individuals to truthfully provide relevant information or circumstances. Article 18 If operators are suspected of violating the provisions of this law, the supervisory department may interview their relevant responsible persons, require them to explain the situation, and propose improvement measures. Article 19 Supervisory departments and their staff have a legal obligation to keep confidential any trade secrets, personal privacy, and personal information they learn during the investigation. Article 20 Any unit or individual has the right to report suspected unfair competition behaviors to the supervisory department. The supervisory department, upon receiving a report, shall handle it promptly according to the law. The supervisory department shall publicly announce the telephone numbers, mailboxes, or email addresses for reporting and provide confidentiality to the reporters. For reports made with real names and providing relevant facts and evidence, the supervisory department shall promptly inform the reporter of the results of the handling. Article 21 Platform operators shall clearly define fair competition rules within the platform in platform service agreements and trading rules, establish a system for reporting, complaints, and dispute resolution for unfair competition within the platform, guide and regulate operators within the platform to compete fairly according to the law; if unfair competition behaviors by operators within the platform are discovered, necessary measures shall be taken in a timely manner according to the law, records shall be kept, and reports shall be made to the supervisory department of the county-level or higher people's government where the platform operator is registered, as required. Chapter IV Legal Liabilities Article 22 Operators who violate the provisions of this law and cause harm to others shall bear civil liabilities according to the law. Operators whose legitimate rights are infringed due to unfair competition behaviors may file a lawsuit with the people's court. The amount of compensation for operators who suffer harm due to unfair competition behaviors shall be determined based on their actual losses caused by the infringement or the benefits obtained by the infringer from the infringement. For operators who intentionally infringe on trade secrets and have a severe case, the amount of compensation may be determined at one to five times the above method. The compensation amount shall also include the reasonable expenses incurred by the operator to stop the infringement. Operators who violate the provisions of Article 7 and Article 10 of this law shall be fined one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand yuan if the actual loss suffered by the rights holder due to the infringement or the benefit gained by the infringer from the infringement is difficult to determine. If the violation is deemed to be more severe, the people's court shall determine compensation of up to five million yuan for the rights holder. Article 23 Operators who violate the provisions of Article 7 by engaging in confusion behaviors or helping others engage in confusion behaviors shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities and confiscate the illegal goods. If the illegal turnover exceeds fifty thousand yuan, a fine of up to five times the illegal turnover may be imposed; if there is no illegal turnover or the illegal turnover is less than fifty thousand yuan, a fine of up to twenty-five thousand yuan may be imposed; in severe cases, the business license may be revoked. If anyone sells illegal goods as specified in Article 7 of this law, they shall be penalized according to the preceding paragraph; if the seller is unaware that the goods being sold are illegal, can prove that the goods were lawfully obtained, and can explain the source of the goods, the supervisory department shall order them to stop selling and not impose administrative penalties. If the name registered by an operator violates the provisions of Article 7 of this law, the operator shall promptly change the registered name; before the name change, the registering authority shall replace it with a unified social credit code. Article 24 Units that violate the provisions of Article 8 of this law by bribing others or receiving bribes shall have their illegal gains confiscated by the supervisory department and be fined between ten thousand and one hundred thousand yuan; in severe cases, a fine of one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand yuan may be imposed, and the business license may be revoked. The legal representative, main person in charge, and directly responsible personnel of the operators shall bear personal responsibility for bribing actions, and if any related individual receives bribes, they shall have their illegal gains confiscated by the supervisory department and be fined up to one hundred thousand yuan. Article 25 Operators who violate the provisions of Article 9 of this law by making false or misleading commercial advertisements about their products or by helping other operators engage in false or misleading commercial advertisements through organizing false transactions, fake evaluations, etc., shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities and be fined between one hundred thousand and one million yuan; in severe cases, a fine of one million to two million yuan may be imposed, and the business license may be revoked. Operators who violate the provisions of Article 9 of this law by publishing false advertisements shall be punished according to the provisions of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China. Article 26 Operators, as well as other natural persons, legal persons, and organizations who violate the provisions of Article 10 of this law by infringing on trade secrets, shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities, have their illegal gains confiscated, and be fined between ten thousand and one hundred thousand yuan; in severe cases, a fine of one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand yuan may be imposed. Article 27 Operators who violate the provisions of Article 11 of this law by conducting sales promotions shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities and be fined between five thousand and fifty thousand yuan. Article 28 Operators who violate the provisions of Article 12 of this law by damaging the commercial reputation and product reputation of other operators shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities, eliminate the impact, and be fined between ten thousand and one hundred thousand yuan; in severe cases, a fine of one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand yuan may be imposed. Article 29 Operators who violate the provisions of Article 13, paragraphs two, three, and four of this law by using the internet for unfair competition shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities and be fined between ten thousand and one hundred thousand yuan; in severe cases, a fine of one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand yuan may be imposed. Article 30 Platform operators who violate the provisions of Article 14 of this law by forcing or indirectly forcing platform operators to sell goods at prices below cost shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop their illegal activities and be fined between five thousand and fifty thousand yuan; in severe cases, a fine of fifty thousand to two hundred thousand yuan may be imposed. Article 31 Operators who violate the provisions of Article 15 of this law by abusing their dominant positions shall be ordered by the supervisory department of the people's government at or above the provincial level to rectify within a time limit; if they fail to rectify within the time limit, a fine of less than one million yuan may be imposed; in severe cases, a fine of one million to five million yuan may be imposed. Article 32 Operators who violate the provisions of this law by engaging in unfair competition and have actively eliminated or reduced the harm caused by their illegal actions shall receive lighter or mitigated administrative penalties according to the law; if the violation is minor and corrected promptly without causing harm, no administrative penalties shall be imposed. Article 33 Operators who violate the provisions of this law by engaging in unfair competition shall have their decisions recorded in their credit records by the supervisory department and be publicly disclosed according to the relevant laws and regulations. Article 34 Operators who violate the provisions of this law shall bear civil, administrative, and criminal responsibilities, and if their assets are insufficient to pay, priority shall be given to bearing civil responsibilities. Article 35 Persons who hinder the supervisory department from performing its duties according to this law, refuse, or obstruct investigations shall be ordered by the supervisory department to correct their behavior, and individuals may be fined up to one thousand yuan, and units may be fined up to ten thousand yuan. Article 36 If a party disagrees with a decision made by the supervisory department, they may apply for administrative reconsideration or file an administrative lawsuit according to the law. Article 37 Staff of the supervisory department who abuse their powers, neglect their duties, act for personal gain, or disclose trade secrets, personal privacy, or personal information they learn during the investigation shall be punished according to the law. Article 38 Those who violate the provisions of this law and constitute offenses against public order and management shall be punished according to the law; those who commit crimes shall be prosecuted for criminal liability according to the law. Article 39 In civil trial proceedings involving trade secrets, if the trade secret rights holder provides preliminary evidence proving that they have taken measures to keep the claimed trade secrets confidential and reasonably demonstrate that the trade secret has been infringed, the alleged infringer must prove that the trade secret claimed by