On the 26th, the Standing Committee of the Fujian Provincial People's Congress voted to pass the Fujian Province Fair Competition Promotion Regulations, which will take effect on December 1st this year. The regulations aim to establish a fair market competition environment, promote fair competition practices, and conduct fair competition reviews, supplementing, detailing, and refining higher-level laws.

It has been reported that the “Measures for the Implementation of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China in Fujian Province” have been in effect for 28 years and no longer meet current needs. In response, our province has introduced new regulations to promote fair competition, replacing the outdated rules. This effort helps to further strengthen the legal framework for fair competition and support the development of a unified, open, fair, efficient, honest, law-abiding, safe, and orderly market environment.

The regulations specify the investigation procedures and handling measures for administrative bodies and organizations authorized by laws and regulations to manage public affairs that abuse administrative power or special national policies to exclude or restrict competition. They also list prohibited behaviors that prevent the free flow of goods by abusing administrative power, such as imposing or indirectly imposing restrictions on units or individuals to operate, purchase, or use goods or services provided by designated operators; and hindering other operators from entering the relevant market or subjecting them to unfair treatment through cooperation agreements, memoranda, and other means with certain operators.

The regulations are problem-oriented, emphasizing practicality and effectiveness. They aim to address new situations and issues encountered in current practice and actively respond to concerns widely shared by society. Regarding online confusion and false advertising, the regulations stipulate that business operators must not use, without permission, the same or similar page designs, names, icons, or other identifiers of applications or online stores that have a certain level of influence, nor assist other business operators in creating confusion that leads consumers to mistakenly believe that a product belongs to someone else or is associated with someone else. Additionally, business operators are prohibited from fabricating transaction amounts, sales volumes, reservation numbers, or other business-related information, as well as from creating fake likes, views, subscriptions, or shares to engage in false or misleading advertising that deceives or misleads consumers.

Strengthening fair competition reviews is an essential measure to regulate government actions and maintain a fair competitive environment. The regulations stipulate that administrative agencies and organizations authorized by laws and regulations to manage public affairs must not issue policies or measures that hinder fair competition. The market supervision authorities should establish a robust and fair inspection mechanism, focusing on key inspections in industries and areas where issues are more concentrated and complaints are more frequent.

Translated by Fujian Investment Promotion Center