Law of the People's Republic of China on Anti-Unfair Competition

(Adopted at the Third Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on September 2, 1993 and revised at the 30th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on November 4, 2017)

Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to promote the healthy development of the socialist market economy, encourage and protect fair competition, stop acts of unfair competition, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of business operators and consumers.
Article 2 In their production and business activities, business operators shall follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness and integrity, and abide by laws and business ethics.
The term "unfair competition act" as used in this Law refers to the acts of business operators that, in production and business operations, violate the provisions of this Law, disrupt the order of market competition and harm the legitimate rights and interests of other business operators or consumers.
The term "business operators" as used in this Law refers to natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations engaged in the production and marketing of commodities or the provision of services (hereinafter "commodities" include services).
Article 3 People's governments at all levels shall take measures to stop acts of unfair competition and create a good environment and conditions for fair competition.
The State Council has established a coordination mechanism for anti unfair competition work, studied and decided on major anti unfair competition policies, and coordinated the handling of major issues related to maintaining market competition order.
Article 4 The administrative departments for industry and commerce of the people's governments at or above the county level shall investigate and deal with acts of unfair competition; Where laws and administrative regulations provide that other departments shall investigate and deal with the matter, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 5 The State encourages, supports and protects all organizations and individuals to exercise social supervision over acts of unfair competition.
State organs and their staff members shall not support or cover up acts of unfair competition.
Industry organizations shall strengthen industry self-discipline, guide and regulate members' competition according to law, and maintain market competition order.
Chapter II Unfair Competition
Article 6 A business operator shall not commit the following acts of confusion, which may lead people to mistake it for another person's goods or have a specific relationship with another person:
（1） Unauthorized use of marks identical with or similar to the name, package and decoration of the goods that have certain influence on others;
（2） Unauthorized use of enterprise names (including abbreviations, shop names, etc.), social organization names (including abbreviations, etc.), and names (including pen names, stage names, translated names, etc.) that have certain influence on others;
（3） Unauthorized use of the main part of the domain name, website name, webpage, etc. that has certain influence on others;
（4） Other acts of confusion sufficient to mislead people into thinking that they are the goods of others or have a specific relationship with others.
Article 7 Business operators shall not bribe the following units or individuals with money, property or other means to seek trading opportunities or competitive advantages:
（1） Staff of the counterparty;
（2） The unit or individual entrusted by the trading counterpart to handle relevant affairs;
（3） Units or individuals that use their power or influence to influence transactions.
In trading activities, an operator may pay a discount to the opposite party of the transaction or a commission to the intermediary in an express manner. Business operators who pay discounts to trading counterparts and commissions to intermediaries shall truthfully enter them into their accounts. Operators accepting discounts and commissions shall also truthfully enter them into their accounts.
Where a staff member of a business operator bribes, it shall be recognized as an act of the business operator; However, unless the business operator has evidence to prove that the behavior of the staff member has nothing to do with seeking trading opportunities or competitive advantages for the business operator.
Article 8 Business operators shall not conduct false or misleading commercial propaganda to deceive or mislead consumers about the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation, and previous honors of their commodities.
Operators shall not help other operators to conduct false or misleading commercial publicity by organizing false transactions or other means.
Article 9 Business operators shall not commit the following acts of infringing trade secrets:
（1） Obtaining the obligee's business secrets by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion or other illegitimate means;
（2） Disclose, use or allow others to use the trade secrets of the obligee obtained by the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph;
（3） Disclose, use or allow others to use the trade secrets they hold in violation of the agreement or the obligee's requirements for keeping trade secrets.
Where a third party knows or should know that the employee, former employee or other unit or individual of the obligee of trade secret still obtains, discloses, uses or allows others to use the trade secret after committing the illegal acts listed in the preceding paragraph, it shall be deemed as infringing on trade secret.
The term "trade secret" as used in this Law refers to technical information and business information that are not known to the public, have commercial value and have been protected by the obligee.
Article 10 An operator shall not have any of the following circumstances when selling with prizes:
（1） Unclear award-winning sales information, such as the types, conditions, amount or prizes of prizes, affects the awarding;
（2） Selling with prizes by deception of falsely claiming that there are prizes or deliberately letting a designated person win the prizes;
（3） For sales with prizes attached in the form of lottery, the maximum amount of the prize exceeds 50000 yuan.
Article 11 Operators shall not fabricate or disseminate false or misleading information to damage the business reputation and commodity reputation of competitors.
Article 12 Business operators who use the Internet to engage in production and business activities shall abide by the provisions of this Law.
Business operators shall not, by means of technology and by influencing users' choices or other means, engage in the following acts that hinder or disrupt the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by other business operators:
（1） Without the consent of other operators, insert links in the network products or services legally provided by them, and force target jump;
（2） Misleading, deceiving or forcing users to modify, shut down or uninstall the network products or services legally provided by other operators;
（3） Malicious implementation of incompatible network products or services legally provided by other operators;
（4） Other acts that hinder or undermine the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by other operators.
Chapter III Investigation of Suspected Unfair Competition
Article 13 The supervision and inspection department may take the following measures when investigating suspected acts of unfair competition:
（1） Enter the business premises suspected of unfair competition for inspection;
（2） Inquire about the business operators, interested parties and other relevant units and individuals under investigation, and ask them to explain the relevant information or provide other materials related to the conduct under investigation;
（3） Query and copy agreements, account books, bills, documents, records, business correspondence and other materials related to suspected acts of unfair competition;
（4） Seize and detain the property related to the suspected unfair competition;
（5） Query the bank accounts of operators suspected of unfair competition.
The adoption of the measures specified in the preceding paragraph shall be reported in writing to the principal person in charge of the supervision and inspection department and shall be subject to approval. The adoption of the measures specified in Items 4 and 5 of the preceding paragraph shall be reported in writing to the principal responsible person of the supervision and inspection department of the people's government at or above the level of a city divided into districts, and shall be subject to approval.
The supervision and inspection department shall abide by the Administrative Compulsory Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and administrative regulations when investigating suspected acts of unfair competition, and shall disclose the investigation results to the public in a timely manner.
Article 14 When the supervision and inspection departments investigate suspected acts of unfair competition, the operators, interested parties and other relevant units and individuals under investigation shall truthfully provide relevant information or information.
Article 15 The supervision and inspection departments and their staff members shall have the obligation to keep confidential the trade secrets they have learned in the course of investigation.
Article 16 Any unit or individual shall have the right to report any suspected act of unfair competition to the supervision and inspection department, which shall deal with it in a timely manner according to law after receiving the report.
The supervision and inspection department shall disclose to the public the telephone number, mailbox or e-mail address of the informant, and keep confidential for the informant. If a real name report is made and relevant facts and evidence are provided, the supervision and inspection department shall inform the reporter of the handling results.
Chapter IV Legal Liabilities
Article 17 If an operator violates the provisions of this Law and causes damage to others, it shall bear civil liability according to law.
If the legitimate rights and interests of business operators are damaged by acts of unfair competition, they may bring a lawsuit to the people's court.
The amount of compensation for operators who have suffered damage due to acts of unfair competition shall be determined according to the actual losses they have suffered as a result of infringement; If the actual loss is difficult to calculate, it shall be determined in accordance with the benefits obtained by the infringer as a result of the infringement. The amount of compensation shall also include the reasonable expenses paid by the operator to stop the infringement.
Where an operator violates the provisions of Article 6 and Article 9 of this Law, and it is difficult to determine the actual losses suffered by the obligee as a result of the infringement and the interests obtained by the infringer as a result of the infringement, the people's court shall, according to the circumstances of the infringement, make a judgment to compensate the obligee for less than 3 million yuan.
Article 18 Where an operator violates the provisions of Article 6 of this Law and conducts acts of confusion, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and confiscate its illegal commodities. If the amount of illegal business operations is more than 50000 yuan, a fine of not more than five times the amount of illegal business operations may also be imposed; If there is no illegal business volume or the illegal business volume is less than 50000 yuan, a fine of not more than 250000 yuan may also be imposed. If the circumstances are serious, the business license shall be revoked.
Where an operator's registered enterprise name violates the provisions of Article 6 of this Law, it shall go through the registration of name change in a timely manner; Before the name is changed, the original enterprise registration authority shall replace its name with a unified social credit code.
Article 19 Where an operator bribes others in violation of the provisions of Article 7 of this Law, the supervision and inspection department shall confiscate the illegal gains and impose a fine of not less than 100000 yuan but not more than 3 million yuan. If the circumstances are serious, the business license shall be revoked.
Article 20 Where an operator, in violation of the provisions of Article 8 of this Law, conducts false or misleading commercial propaganda on its goods, or helps other operators to conduct false or misleading commercial propaganda by organizing false transactions or other means, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 200000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than one million yuan but not more than two million yuan shall be imposed, and the business license may be revoked.
If an operator violates the provisions of Article 8 of this Law by publishing false advertisements, it shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 21 Where an operator violates the provisions of Article 9 of this Law and infringes on trade secrets, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 500000 yuan but not more than 3 million yuan shall be imposed.

Article 22 Where an operator sells with prizes in violation of the provisions of Article 10 of this Law, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 50000 yuan but not more than 500000 yuan.
Article 23 Where an operator violates the provisions of Article 11 of this Law and damages the business reputation and commodity reputation of a competitor, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act, eliminate the impact, and impose a fine of not less than 100000 yuan but not more than 500000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 500000 yuan but not more than 3 million yuan shall be imposed.
Article 24 Where an operator, in violation of the provisions of Article 12 of this Law, obstructs or destroys the normal operation of the network products or services legally provided by other operators, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 500000 yuan but not more than 3 million yuan shall be imposed.
Article 25 Where an operator, in violation of the provisions of this Law, engages in unfair competition and has taken the initiative to eliminate or mitigate the harmful consequences of illegal acts and other statutory circumstances, it shall be given a lighter or mitigated administrative punishment according to law; If the illegal act is minor and corrected in a timely manner, and no harmful consequences are caused, no administrative penalty shall be imposed.
Article 26 Where an operator, in violation of the provisions of this Law, engages in unfair competition and is subject to administrative punishment, the supervision and inspection department shall record it in its credit record and publicize it in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations.
Article 27 Business operators who, in violation of the provisions of this Law, should bear civil, administrative and criminal liabilities, and whose property is insufficient to pay for it, shall have priority in bearing civil liabilities.
Article 28 Where a supervision and inspection department is obstructed from performing its duties in accordance with this Law and refuses or obstructs the investigation, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to make corrections, impose a fine of not more than 5000 yuan on an individual, not more than 50000 yuan on a unit, and may impose a penalty for public security administration by the public security organ according to law.
Article 29 If a party refuses to accept the decision made by the supervision and inspection department, he may apply for administrative reconsideration or bring an administrative lawsuit according to law.
Article 30 Any staff member of the supervision and inspection department who abuses his power, neglects his duty, engages in malpractices for personal gain, or divulges business secrets learned in the course of investigation shall be punished according to law.
Article 31 Anyone who violates the provisions of this Law and constitutes a crime shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Article 32 This Law shall come into force as of January 1, 2018.