China’s amended Anti-Unfair Competition Law: key updates and implications for overseas companies

As China’s foundational legal regime for promoting fair competition, regulating market order, and safeguarding the healthy operation of the market economy, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law has a history spanning more than three decades since its 1993 enactment. It has been amended twice, in 2017 and 2019, with a third amendment completed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. On June 27 2025, the amended Anti-Unfair Competition Law (the Law) was promulgated, and it took effect on October 15 2025.

The amendments respond to new developments in the internet industry, directly addressing emerging situations and issues related to online unfair competition, and further improving the rules governing fair competition in the digital and platform-driven economy.

The main contents and key highlights of the amendments to the law are as follows.

• Acts of confusion (Article 7):

  • Unauthorised use of influential “new media account names, applications names or icons” may constitute acts of confusion;

  • Unauthorised use, as enterprise names, of others’ registered trademarks or well-known unregistered trademarks may constitute acts of confusion; and

  • Unauthorised use, as search keywords, of others’ product names, enterprise names (including abbreviations and trade names), registered trademarks, and well-known unregistered trademarks may constitute acts of confusion.

• Assisting others in committing acts of confusion (articles 7, 23):

  • Business operators shall not assist others in implementing acts of confusion; and

  • Business operators that assist others in implementing acts of confusion are subject to administrative penalties, including confiscation of illegal goods, fines, and revocation of business licence.

• Online unfair competition acts (articles 13, 29):

  • Business operators shall not utilise data, algorithms, techniques, platform rules, etc. for unfair competition;

  • Business operators shall not unlawfully acquire or use data through fraud, coercion, circumvention, or destruction of technical measures;

  • Business operators shall not abuse platform rules by directly or indirectly instructing others to engage in false transactions, fake reviews, malicious returns, etc.; and

  • The upper limit of fines is increased from CNY 3 million to CNY 5 million as administrative penalties on business operators that commit online unfair competition acts.

• Platform responsibilities (articles 14, 21, 30):

  • Platform operators are subject to administrative penalties, including fines of up to CNY 2 million for forcing or indirectly forcing on-platform business operators to sell goods at below-cost prices, thereby disrupting market order;

  • Enhances the obligations for platform operators to regulate unfair competition within platforms, including establishing fair competition rules, mechanisms for reporting and resolving disputes, and guiding business operators to abide by laws; and

  • Specifies that where platform operators discover unfair competition acts within their platform, they shall take necessary legal disposal measures, keep relevant records, and report to supervisory authorities at or above the county level of the business operator’s location.

• Commercial bribery (articles 8, 24):

  • Adds provisions prohibiting entities and individuals from accepting bribes, clarifying the bilateral prohibition on offering and accepting bribes;

  • Introduces personal accountability for commercial bribery, expanding liability to the legal representatives, senior managers, and individuals with direct responsibility for business operators; and

  • Increases the penalty cap for commercial bribery from CNY 3 million to CNY 5 million.

• False advertising (articles 9, 25):

  • Expands the scope of false advertising targets from “consumers” to “consumers and other operators”;

  • Prohibits operators from assisting others in committing false advertising through “false reviews”; and

  • Removes the lower limit of the fine for false advertising (previously CNY 200,000).

• Commercial defamation (Article 12):

  • Prohibits operators from directing others to engage in commercial defamation; and

  • Expands the scope of commercial defamation targets from “competitors” to “other operators”.

• Extraterritorial application (Article 40):

  • Where an unfair competition act is committed outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China but disrupts the domestic market order or harms the legitimate rights and interests of domestic business operators or consumers, it shall be handled in accordance with this law and relevant laws.

Specifically, platforms are prohibited from forcing or indirectly forcing on-platform business operators to sell goods at below-cost prices, thereby disrupting market order. In addition, platforms are required to establish mechanisms for reporting and resolving disputes. Companies can file complaints through these platform mechanisms to resolve unfair competition issues effectively.

Companies can pursue legal responsibility if others use their own trademarks or corporate names as search keywords to free-ride their reputation and mislead consumers, provided that the use may cause confusion regarding the source of goods or lead to false associations. The amendment clarifies rules on improper search keyword use, enhancing enforcement predictability and clarity.

The prohibition on “directing others” to commit commercial defamation covers practices such as hiring third parties to publish negative information, organising reputation-damaging public opinion campaigns, or covert competitive advertising by promotion agencies, multi-channel networks, or influencers. Companies can rely on the law to protect their legitimate rights and interests against such conduct.