China’s National People’s Congress has enacted the amended Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which will take effect on October 15, 2025. This comprehensive update, which was enacted on June 27, 2025, addresses digital-era market challenges through five critical enhancements: expanded identifier protections; refined protections against conventional violations; digital competition rules; SME safeguards; and extraterritorial reach.
Expanded Identifier Protections (Article 7)
The law now protects domain names, website names, webpages, social media account names, and mobile application names/icons that have achieved market recognition.
It explicitly bans the misappropriation of registered or well-known unregistered trademarks as trade names.
It prohibits the use of search keywords that cause confusion by incorporating others’ product names, enterprise names (including abbreviations and trade names), registered trademarks, or well-known unregistered trademarks.
It establishes liability for those who aid in acts that create confusion.
Refined Protections Against Conventional Violations
Commercial bribery (Article 8): The law now bans both the provision and acceptance of bribes. In addition, it holds corporate legal representatives and controlling officers personally liable for violations.
False reviews and deceptive promotion (Article 9): Operators are prohibited from assisting others in conducting false transactions or fabricating reviews in commercial marketing.
Sales promotions with rewards (Article 11): The law bars any post-launch modifications of sales reward terms.
Commercial defamation (Article 12): It prohibits instructing third parties to defame any business operator, and enhances protections for all business operators, not just competitors.
Digital Competition Rules (Articles 13–14, 21, 29)
The law bans leveraging data, algorithms, or platform rules to distort fair competition.
Businesses are prohibited from obtaining or using data held by other companies through fraud, coercion, circumvention, or the destruction of technical management measures.
It prohibits platform-facilitated malpractice, including false transactions, fake reviews, and fraudulent returns, either directly or by instructing others to engage in such practices.
Platforms are now obligated to avoid coercing merchants into below-cost sales and must actively monitor merchant compliance.
Severe violations can lead to penalties of up to RMB 5 million (approximately US $698,000).
SME Safeguards (Articles 15, 31)
The law sanctions large enterprises that exploit their “advantageous position” to coerce small and medium-sized enterprises into unfavorable deals, without requiring proof of market dominance.
Extraterritorial Reach (Article 40) The law now applies to overseas unfair-competition actions that harm Chinese consumers or business operators. Updated Compliance Required These revisions significantly modernize the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, enhancing its adaptability to the fast-evolving digital economy. Businesses—especially digital platforms and multinationals—are urged to audit their compliance strategies in anticipation of the effective date of October 15, 2025.
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