The 35th meeting of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee voted to adopt amendments to the country's Anti-Monopoly Law, and the revised law will take effect on August 1. The revision has closed certain loopholes in existing regulations in terms of abusing dominant market positions while improving the definition of illicit acts that threaten fair market competition for private firms. Analysts said the amendments will ensure the internet platform sector's sound and stable development in the long term. They are the first amendments since China's anti-monopoly law took effect on August 1, 2008.
A major revision of the legislation focuses on how to tackle the new challenges brought by the development of the digital economy and properly regulate the platform economy, as China's economy and society is developing fast, and the global economic environment is also shifting, making certain clauses of the existing anti-monopoly law incompatible with current and future needs. The revised law will establish and improve a fair competition review system, and formulate and implement competition rules compatible with China's socialist market economy, according to a Xinhua report. China's National Anti-monopoly Bureau, which was inaugurated in November 2021, will be responsible for enforcement of the law.
Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based veteran market analyst, told the Global Times that the past development of the platform economy in China started off with rapid expansion which was not properly supervised, and that regulations often only caught up afterwards. He added that the implementation of the revised law can ensure the industry as well as market entities develop at a fast pace under clear guidance. “It also shows that China's legislation is not static, but is in motion, addressing the demands of the public and the market,” Wang Peng, Assistant Professor at the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.
Previously, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the internet industry would be afraid to come out with innovations or ideas which might be mimicked by industry giants, while SMEs might not be able to defend their rights, Liu said. He added that as major market entities, SMEs will be more actively seeking out new innovations, which is beneficial to boosting the market economy over the long run.
