Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the
People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 3rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth
National People's Congress on September 2, 1993; revised at the 30th
Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's
Congress on November 4, 2017; amended in accordance with the
Decision on Revising the Construction Law of the People's Republic of
China and Other Seven Laws at the 10th Meeting of the Standing
Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on April 23,
2019)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Acts of Unfair Competition
Chapter III Investigation into Suspected Acts of Unfair Competition
Chapter IV Legal Liability
Chapter V Supplemental Provision
Chapter I
General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of promoting the sound
development of the socialist market economy, encouraging and protecting
fair competition, preventing acts of unfair competition, and safeguarding
the lawful rights and interests of business entities and consumers.
Article 2 Business entities shall adhere to the principles of free will,
equality, fairness and good faith, and comply with applicable laws and
business ethics in their production and distribution activities.
For the purposes of this Law, “an act of unfair competition” means that in
its production or distribution activity, a business entity disrupts the order
of market competition and causes damage to the lawful rights and
interests of other business entities or consumers, in violation of this Law.
For the purposes of this Law, a business entity refers to a natural person, a
legal person or an unincorporated organization that is engaged in
producing or distributing goods or providing service (such goods and
services hereinafter are collectively referred to as goods.
Article 3 The people's governments at all levels shall take measures to
prevent acts of unfair competition and create favorable environments and
conditions for fair competition.
The State Council shall establish a coordinative mechanism as regards
anti-unfair competition work, study and decide on major anti-unfair
competition policies, and coordinate the settlement of major issues in
maintaining the order of market competition.
Article 4 The relevant departments of the people's governments at or
above the county level that perform the duty of industrial and commercial
administration shall be responsible for investigating and punishing acts of
unfair competition, unless a law or administrative regulation requires any
other department to do so.
Article 5 The state encourage and support organizations and individuals
to engage in public supervision over unfair competition acts, and protect
such organizations and individuals engaged in such supervision.
Governmental organs and their staff members shall not support or cover
up acts of unfair competition.
Industry organizations shall strengthen self-regulation within the industry,
provide guidelines and rules for their members to compete lawfully, and
maintain the order of market competition.
Chapter II
Acts of Unfair Competition
Article 6 A business entity shall not commit any of the following acts
which create confusion, misleading consumers into believing that its own
goods is the goods of another business entity or has a certain connection
with another entity:
(1) Using, without authorization, any mark identical or similar to the
name, packaging or decoration, etc. of another business entity’s goods
which has certain reputation;
(2) Using, without authorization, another business entity’s name
(including short name and brand name), or a social organization’s name
(including short name), or a person’s name (including pseudonym, stage
name and name translation), in each case with certain reputation;
(3) Using, without authorization, the principal part of a domain name, the
name of a website, or a web page, etc., in each case with certain
reputation, of another entity; or
(4) Any other confusing act sufficient to mislead the consumers into
believing that its goods is the goods of another business entity or has
certain connection with another business entity.
Article 7 A business entity shall not seek a transaction opportunity or a
competitive edge by bribing any of the following units or individuals with
money or things of value or any other kinds of bribery:
(1) Any employee of the other party to a transaction;
(2) Any unit or individual authorized by the other party to a transaction to
handle the relevant affairs; or
(3) Any other unit or individual that may use power or influence to affect
a transaction.
A business entity may, in the course of doing business, expressly pay a
discount to the other party to the transaction, or pay a commission to a
broker, provided that, in either case, the business entity shall faithfully
make an entry in its account book in respect of such a discount or
commission. A business entity which receives such a discount or
commission shall also faithfully enter it into its account book.
A bribery committed by an employee of a business entity shall be deemed
to be committed by the business entity, unless the business entity has
evidence that the activity of the employee is irrelevant to seeking a
transaction opportunity or competitive edge for the business entity.
Article 8 A business entity shall not deceive or mislead consumers by
engaging in any false or misleading commercial publicity in respect of
the performance, functions, quality, sales conditions, user comments, and
honors received of its goods.
A business entity shall not help another business entity engage in any
false or misleading commercial publicity by organizing a false transaction
or by any other means.
Article 9 A business entity shall not commit any of the following acts
which infringe trade secrets of another:
(1) Obtaining a trade secret from its lawful holder by theft, bribery, fraud,
coercion, hacking into the electronic information system or any other
illicit means;
(2) Disclosing, using, or permitting another to use the trade secret
obtained from its lawful holder by means as specified in the preceding
paragraph;
(3) Disclosing, using, or permitting another to use any trade secret under
its control in violation of a legal obligation, or the requirements of its
lawful holder, for protecting the confidentiality of trade secrets;
(4) Aiding and abetting, or luring one to obtain, disclose, use or permit
another to use any trade secret of its lawful holder by violating one’s legal
obligation, or the requirements of lawful holder, for protecting the
confidentiality of trade secrets.
Any natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization shall be
deemed to infringe the trade secret if they commit any unlawful acts set
forth in the preceding paragraphs.
Where a third party knows or should have known that an employee or a
former employee of the lawful holder of a trade secret or any other unit or
individual has committed an illegal act as specified in the first paragraph
of this Article, but still obtains, discloses, uses, or permits another to use
the trade secret in question, the third party shall be deemed to infringe the
trade secret.
For the purposes of this Law, “a trade secret” means any commercial
information unknown to the public, including but not limited to
technology or business information, with commercial value and for which
its lawful holder has taken proper confidentiality measures.
Article 10 The following circumstances shall be prohibited in the case of
a business entity launching a premium sale activity:
(1) The information about the types of prizes, conditions for claiming
prizes, the specific prizes or the sum of prizes, etc. in a premium sales
activity is so ambiguous as to affect claiming prize;
(2) Making fake prize or intentionally letting inside persons to win the
prize; or
(3) The sum of the top prize exceeding RMB 50,000 yuan in the case of a
lottery-based premium sales.
Article 11 A business entity shall not fabricate or disseminate false or
misleading information in order to damage the goodwill of competitors or
their goods.
Article 12 A business entity engaged in production or distribution via the
internet shall abide by the provisions of this Law.
A business entity shall not, by using technical means to interfere with
users’ choice or otherwise, commit any of the following acts that affect or
sabotage the normal operation of any online product or service lawfully
provided by another business entity:
(1) Without consent of another entity, inserting a link or forcing a URL
redirection in an internet product or service lawfully provided by the said
other business entity;
(2) Misleading, tricking or forcing users to alter, shut down, or uninstall
an internet product or service lawfully provided by another business
entity;
(3) Causing, in bad faith, incompatibility with an internet product or
service lawfully provided by another business entity; or
(4) Any other act that interferes with or sabotages the normal operation of
internet products or services lawfully provided by another business entity.
Chapter III
Investigation into Suspected Acts of Unfair Competition
Article 13 The regulatory department may take the following measures in
investigating a suspected act of unfair competition:
(1) Entering and investigating a business premise suspected of being
involved in an act of unfair competition;
(2) Enquiring the business entity under investigation, any interested
person, and other relevant units and individuals, and requiring them to
provide relevant information or other materials relating to the the
suspected act of unfair competition;
(3) Checking and duplicating agreements, account books, documents,
files, records, business letters, and other materials relating to the
suspected act of unfair competition;
(4) Seizing or detaining money or things relating to the suspected act of
unfair competition; and
(5) Checking bank accounts of a business entity suspected of engaging in
an act of unfair competition.
Prior to taking measures prescribed in the preceding paragraph, a written
report thereon shall be submitted to the principal responsible person of
the regulatory department for approval. Prior to taking measures
prescribed in Subparagraphs (4) and (5) of the preceding paragraph, a
written report thereon shall be submitted for approval to the principal
responsible person of the regulatory department of the people’s
government at or above the level of city divided into districts.
The regulatory department shall comply with the Administrative
Compulsion Law of the People's Republic of China and other applicable
laws and administrative regulations in investigating a suspected act of
unfair competition, and publish in a timely manner to the public the
results of the investigation and handling.
Article 14 When the regulatory department investigates a suspected act of
unfair competition, the business entity under investigation, any interested
person, and any other relevant unit and individual shall faithfully provide
relevant materials and information.
Article 15 Regulatory departments and their employees shall keep
confidential the trade secrets they came to know during investigation.
Article 16 Any entity or individual shall have the right to report a
suspected act of unfair competition to the regulatory department which
shall, upon receipt of such a report, deal with the matter according to law
in a timely manner.
The regulatory departments shall publish their telephone numbers,
mailing boxes, or e-mail addresses for receiving reports, and shall keep
informants confidential. In the case of a true-name reporting with relevant
facts and evidence provided, the relevant regulatory department shall
notify the informant of the result of its investigation and handling.
Chapter IV
Legal Liability
Article 17 A business entity that causes damage to another person in
violation of this Law shall bear civil liability according to law.
Any business entity whose lawful rights and interests are prejudiced by
an act of unfair competition may institute an action before a people’s
court of competent jurisdiction.
The amount of damages to a business entity caused by an act of unfair
competition of another shall be determined based on its actual loss caused
by the infringement by another or, if it is difficult to calculate the actual
loss, based on the benefits obtained by the infringer from its infringement.
If the business entity has maliciously infringed upon the trade secret with
flagrant circumstances, the amount of damages shall be no less than one
time but no more than five times of the amount determined by the
aforementioned method. The amount of damages to a business entity
shall include its reasonable costs for stopping the infringement.
Where any business entity violates Article 6 or 9 of this Law, and it is
difficult to determine the actual loss of the right holder involved due to
the infringement and the benefits obtained by the infringer from its
infringement, a people’s court of competent jurisdiction may, at its
discretion, award damages not exceeding RMB five million yuan to the
right holder based on the circumstances of the infringement.
Article 18 Where any business entity commits an act which creates
confusion in violation of Article 6 of this Law, the regulatory authorities
shall order it to cease its such illegal activity and confiscate its illegal
products. Additionally the infringer may also be punished by a fine not
exceeding five times of the value of its illegal operations if the value of
its illegal operations is RMB 50,000 yuan or more, or by a fine not
exceeding RMB 250,000 yuan if the value of its illegal operations is zero
or less than RMB 50,000 yuan. If its violation is serious, its business
license shall be revoked.
Any business entity where its registered business name does not comply
with Article 6 of this Law shall, in a timely manner, undergo name
modification registration; and before its name is modified properly, the
original enterprise registration authorities shall use its uniform social
credit code instead of its name.
Article 19 Where any business entity bribes another person in violation of
Article 7 of this Law, the regulatory authorities shall confiscate its illegal
income and impose a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan nor more
than RMB three million yuan on it. If its violation is serious, its business
license shall be revoked.
Article 20 Where any business entity conducts any false or misleading
commercial publicity about its products or helps another business entity
conduct any false or misleading commercial publicity by fabricating
transactions or by any other means in violation of Article 8 of this Law,,
the regulatory authorities shall order it to cease its such illegal activity,
and it shall be punished by a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 yuan but
not more than RMB one million yuan, or if its violation is serious by a
fine of not less than RMB one million yuan but not more than RMB two
million yuan and its business license may be revoked.
Violation by any business entity of Article 8 of this Law that constitutes
publishing false advertisement shall be punished pursuant to the
Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 21 Where any business entity, natural person, legal person or
unincorporated organization infringes upon a trade secret of another in
violation of Article 9 of this Law, the regulatory authorities shall order it
to cease such illegal activity, confiscate any illegal gains, and impose a
fine of no less than RMB 100,000 yuan but no more than RMB one
million yuan, or a fine of no less than RMB 500,000 yuan but no more
than RMB five million yuan if the circumstance is serious.
Article 22 Where any business entity conducts a premium sales activity in
violation of Article 10 of this Law, the regulatory authorities shall order it
to cease its such illegal activity and impose on it a fine of not less than
RMB 50,000 yuan nut not more than RMB 500,000 yuan.
Article 23 Where any business entity causes any damage to the goodwill
or the reputation of product of its competitor in violation of Article 11 of
this Law, the regulatory authorities shall order it to cease its such illegal
activity, to eliminate the adverse effects, and shall impose a fine not less
than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan, or a fine
of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan but not more than RMB three million
yuan, if its violation is serious.
Article 24 Where any business entity interferes with or sabotages the
normal operation of internet products or services lawfully provided by
another business entity in violation of Article 12 of this Law, the
regulatory authorities shall order it to cease its such illegal activity, and
impose a fine not less than RMB 100,000 yuan but not more than RMB
500,000 yuan, or a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan but not more
than RMB three million yuan if its violation is serious.
Article 25 Where a business engages in any unfair competition in
violation of this Law, and it voluntarily eliminates or mitigates the
harmful consequences of its illegal act, among other statutory
circumstances, a lighter or mitigated administrative punishment may be
imposed according to the laws; if the illegal act is minor and corrected in
a timely manner without any harmful consequences, no administrative
punishment shall be imposed.
Article 26 Where any business entity is subject to an administrative
punishment for conducting acts of unfair competition in violation of this
Law, the regulatory authorities shall enter such fact into the credit
recording system against the business entity, and make relevant public
announcements, according to applicable laws and administrative
regulations.
Article 27 Any business entity shall bear civil, administrative, and
criminal liability for its such violation of this Law. Where its property is
not sufficient to cover all such liabilities, the civil liability shall be first
covered.
Article 28 Where any business entity prevents the regulatory authorities
from performing their functions pursuant to this Law, or refuses to
cooperate or otherwise impedes an investigation by the regulatory
authorities, the regulatory authorities shall order the business entity to
take corrective actions, and may impose on individual a fine of not more
than RMB 5,000 yuan , or of not more than RMB50,000 yuan for units,
and shall be given a public security administration punishment in by
the public security authorities according to law.
Article 29 Where a party refuses to accept the decision of the regulatory
authorities, may apply for administrative reconsideration or
administrative lawsuit .
Article 30 Any official or employee of the regulatory authorities who
abuses his/her power, commits dereliction of duties, makes falsehood for
personal gains, or divulges any trade secret known in investigation shall
be punished pursuant to applicable laws.
Article 31 Any violation of the provisions of this Law，which
constitutes a criminal offence, shall be investigated for criminal
responsibility according to law.
Article 32 In a civil proceeding on the infringement of trade secret, the
lawful holder of the trade secret shall submit prima facie evidence to
prove that it has taken confidentiality measures for the claimed trade
secret, and to reasonably indicate that the trade secret has been infringed
upon. The alleged infringer shall then prove that the trade secret claimed
by the lawful holder does not constitute a “trade secret” under this Law.
The alleged infringer shall prove the absence of the infringement, if the
lawful holder of a trade secret submits prima facie evidence reasonably
indicating that the trade secret has been infringed upon, and submits any
of the following evidence:
(1) Evidence indicating that the alleged infringer has the method or
opportunity to obtain the trade secret, and the information it used is
substantially the same with such trade secret;
(2)Evidence indicating that the trade secret has been disclosed or used, or
is at risk of disclosure or use, by the alleged infringer; or
(3) Other evidence indicating that the trade secret has been infringed
upon by the alleged infringer.
Chapter V
Supplemental Provision
Article 33 This Law shall come into force on January 1, 2018.