Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 3rd Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on September 2, 1993; revised for the first time at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on November 4, 2017; amended at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on 23 April 2019; revised for the second time at the 16th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on June 27, 2025)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Acts of Unfair Competition
Chapter III Investigation into Suspected Unfair Competition Acts
Chapter IV Legal Responsibility
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted to promote the healthy development of the socialist market economy, encourage and protect fair competition, prevent and stop unfair competition acts, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of business operators and consumers.
Article 2 In their production and business operations, business operators shall adhere to the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, and good faith, abide by laws and business ethics, and fairly participate in market competition.
Acts of unfair competition referred to in this Law are any acts by business operators in their production and business operations that violate the provisions of this Law, disrupt market competition order, and harm the legitimate rights and interests of other business operators or consumers.
Business operators referred to in this Law are natural persons, legal persons, and unincorporated organizations engaged in the manufacturing or trading of goods, or provision of services (goods and services hereinafter referred to as “goods”).
Article 3 Anti-unfair competition work shall adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
The State improves and perfects anti-unfair competition rules and regulations, strengthens anti-unfair competition law enforcement and judicial efforts, maintains market competition order, and establishes a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system.
The State establishes and improves a fair competition review system, strengthens fair competition examination work in accordance with the law, and ensures that all types of business operators have equal access to production factors and fairly participate in market competition in accordance with the law.
Article 4 People's governments at all levels shall take measures to prevent and stop acts of unfair competition and create a favorable environment and conditions for fair competition.
The State Council shall establish and improve a coordination mechanism for anti-unfair competition efforts to coordinate and deal with major issues for maintaining market competition order.
Article 5 Authorities performing market regulation duties in people's governments at or above the county level shall supervise and inspect acts of unfair competition. Where laws and administrative regulations provide for supervision and inspection by other authorities, such provisions shall apply.
Article 6 The State encourages, supports, and protects all organizations and individuals in conducting public oversight of acts of unfair competition.
State organs and their personnel shall not support or cover up acts of unfair competition.
Industry organizations shall strengthen self-discipline, guide and regulate business operators in their respective industries to compete in accordance with the law, and maintain market competition order.
Chapter II Acts of Unfair Competition
Article 7 Business operators shall not commit any of the following confusing conduct that will mislead others into believing that their goods are the goods of another person or that they have a specific connection with another person:
(1) unauthorized use of a mark that is identical or similar to the name, packaging or decoration of another person’s goods, which has certain fame;
(2) unauthorized use of another person’s name (including its abbreviation, or trade name, etc.) or the name of an individual (including his or her pen name, stage name, online username, or translated name, etc.), which has certain fame;
(3) unauthorized use of the main part of another person's domain name, or the website name, webpage, new media account name, application name, or icon of another person, which has certain fame;
(4) other confusing conduct that sufficiently misleads others into believing that their goods are those of another person or that they have a specific connection with another person.
Unauthorized use of another's registered trademark or unregistered well-known trademark as a trade name, or setting another person's product name, enterprise name (including its abbreviation or trade name), registered trademark, or unregistered well-known trademark as a search keyword, thereby misleading others into believing that their goods are the goods of another person or that they have a specific connection with another person, constitutes confusing conduct as provided for in the preceding paragraph.
A business operator shall not aid others in committing confusing conduct.
Article 8 A business operator shall not bribe any of the following entities or individuals by offering property or other means to seek a transaction opportunity or competitive advantages:
(1) any staff member of the transaction counterparty;
(2) any entity or individual entrusted by the transaction counterparty to handle relevant affairs; or
(3) any entity or individual who uses its/his/her powers or influence to affect the transaction.
The entity or individual specified in the preceding paragraph shall not accept bribes.
A business operator may explicitly pay a discount to the transaction counterparty or a commission to an intermediary of the transaction in the course of transaction activities. The discount paid to the transaction counterparty or the commission paid to the intermediary by the business operator shall be recorded truthfully in its account books. A business operator that accepts such discount or commission shall also record such payment truthfully in its account books.
Bribery by any staff member of a business operator shall be deemed to be the conduct of the business operator, unless the business operator has evidence proving that the staff member's conduct is unrelated to efforts in seeking a transaction opportunity or competitive advantages for the business operator.
Article 9 A business operator shall not make false or misleading commercial advertisements for their goods' performance, functions, quality, sales status, user evaluation, or honor received, thereby deceiving or misleading consumers and other business operators.
A business operator shall not assist another business operator in making false or misleading commercial advertisements by organizing fraudulent transactions, false reviews or any other approach.
Article 10 A business operator shall not commit any of the following trade secret infringement conduct:
(1) obtaining a trade secret of a rights holder by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion, or other unfair means;
(2) disclosing, using, or allowing others to use a rights holder’s trade secret obtained by the aforementioned means;
(3) disclosing, using, or allowing others to use a trade secret in their possession, in violation of confidentiality obligations or the rights holder's requirements for maintaining the confidentiality of the trade secret; or
(4) instigating, tempting, or assisting others in violating confidentiality obligations or a rights holder's requirements for maintaining the confidentiality of a trade secret, thereby obtaining, disclosing, using, or allowing others to use the rights holder's trade secret.
Where any natural person, legal person and unincorporated organization other than a business operator commits any of the illegal conduct specified in the preceding paragraph, it shall be deemed as a trade secret infringement.
Where a third party knows or should have known that an employee or a former employee of the rights holder of a trade secret or another entity or individual has committed any of the illegal conduct specified in the first paragraph of this Article, and still obtains, discloses, uses or allows others to use such trade secret, it shall be deemed as a trade secret infringement.
A trade secret referred to in this Law is technical information, operational information, or other commercial information that is not known to the public and has commercial value, and for which the rights holder has taken appropriate confidentiality measures.
Article 11 The prize sales activities of a business operator shall not involve any of the following circumstances:
(1) defining unclear types of prizes, redemption conditions, amounts of prize money, prizes in kind, or other information regarding prize sales, thereby affecting prize redemption;
(2) changing, after the commencement of a prize sales activity, the types of prizes, redemption conditions, amounts of prize money, prizes in kind or other information regarding prize sales, without justifiable reasons;
(3) conducting prize sales through deceptive means, such as falsely claiming prizes or deliberately allowing pre-selected individuals to win prizes; or
(4) conducting prize sales through prize draws, where the highest prize money exceeds CNY 50,000.
Article 12 A business operator shall not fabricate or disseminate or instruct another person to fabricate or disseminate any false information or misleading information, thereby harming the business reputation or product reputation of other business operators.
Article 13 Where a business operator utilizes the internet in engaging in its production and business operations, it shall comply with all provisions of this Law.
A business operator shall not commit any of the following acts that impede or disrupt the normal operation of internet products or services legally provided by other business operators, by affecting user choices or other manners using data, algorithms, techniques, platform rules or other means:
(1) without authorization, inserting a link into or forcing redirects from an internet product or service legally provided by another business operator,
(2) misleading, deceiving, or forcing users to modify, close, or uninstall an internet product or service legally provided by another business operator;
(3) implementing in bad faith incompatibility with an internet product or service legally provided by another business operator; or
(4) any other acts that impede or disrupt the normal operation of an internet product or service legally provided by another business operator.
A business operator shall not, by fraud, coercion, circumvention, destruction of technical management measures, or other unfair means, obtain or use data legally held by another business operator, thereby harming the legitimate rights and interests of another business operator and disrupting the market competition order.
A business operator shall not abuse platform rules to directly conduct or instruct others to conduct fraudulent transactions, false reviews, malicious returns or other similar acts against another business operator, thereby harming the legitimate rights and interests of another business operator and disrupting the market competition order.
Article 14 A platform operator shall not force or covertly force business operators on its platform to sell goods at prices below cost in accordance with its pricing rules, thereby disrupting the market competition order.
Article 15 A large enterprise or any other business operator shall not abuse its dominant position in terms of capital, technology, transaction channels, industry influence, among others, to require a small or medium-sized enterprise to accept evidently unreasonable payment periods, methods or conditions, liability for breach of contract, or other transaction conditions, thereby delaying payments to small or medium-sized enterprises for goods, projects, services, or other items.
Chapter III Investigations into Suspected Unfair Competition Acts
Article 16 The supervision and inspection authorities may adopt the following measures to investigate suspected unfair competition acts:
(1) accessing the business premises involved in a suspected unfair competition act for inspection;
(2) inquiring of the business operator, any interested party, or any other related entity or individual under investigation, and requiring them to explain relevant situations or provide other materials in relation to the investigated act;
(3) inquiring into and copying the contracts and agreements, account books, vouchers, documents, records, business correspondence and other materials related to the suspected unfair competition act;
(4) sealing or detaining the property involved in the suspected unfair competition act; and
(5) inquiring into the bank account of the business operator suspected of unfair competition act.
Before any measure specified in the preceding paragraph is adopted, a written report shall be submitted to the principal of the supervision and inspection authority for his or her approval. Where the measure specified in Item 4 or Item 5 of the preceding paragraph is to be adopted, a written report shall be submitted to the principal of the supervision and inspection authority under the people's government at or above the level of a prefecture-level city for his or her approval.
When investigating suspected unfair competition acts, the supervision and inspection authorities shall adhere to the provisions of the Administrative Enforcement Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, and promptly disclose the investigation and handling results to the public.
Article 17 When the supervision and inspection authorities investigate suspected unfair competition acts, the investigated business operators, interested parties, and other related entities or individuals shall truthfully provide the relevant materials or information.
Article 18 Where a business operator is suspected of violating the provisions of this Law, the supervision and inspection authorities may interview the relevant responsible persons and require them to explain the circumstances and propose corrective measures.
Article 19 The supervision and inspection authorities and their personnel shall have a legal obligation to maintain confidentiality of any trade secrets, personal privacy, and personal information learned during the investigation.
Article 20 Any entity or individual shall have the right to report any of suspected unfair competition acts to the supervision and inspection authority. Upon receipt of such reports, the supervision and inspection authority shall promptly handle them according to the law.
The supervision and inspection authorities shall make available to the public the phone numbers, mailing addresses or email addresses for accepting such reports and maintain confidentiality of the reporter. For reports submitted under real names and providing relevant facts and evidence, the supervision and inspection authorities shall promptly inform the reporter of the handling results.
Article 21 A platform operator shall specify fair competition rules within the platform in their platform service agreements and transaction rules, establish mechanisms for reporting and complaining about unfair competition acts and resolving disputes, and guide and regulate business operators on the platform to compete fairly in accordance with the law.
Where it discovers that a business operator on the platform commits unfair competition, the platform operator shall promptly take necessary measures in accordance with the law, keep relevant records, and report to the supervision and inspection authorities of the people's government at or above the county level in the place of the platform operator's domicile in accordance with relevant regulations.
Chapter IV Legal Liability
Article 22 Where a business operator violates the provisions of this Law and causes damage to others, it shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law.
Where a business operator’s legitimate rights and interests are harmed by unfair competition acts, it may institute a lawsuit with a people's court.
The compensation for damages caused by unfair competition acts to a business operator shall be determined according to the actual losses suffered by the business operator due to the infringement or the profits earned by the infringer due to the infringement. Where a business operator intentionally commits a trade secret infringement and the circumstances are serious, the compensation for damages may be determined at not less than one time but not more than five times the compensation determined in accordance with the aforementioned approach. The compensation for damages shall include the reasonable expenses paid by the business operator to stop the infringement.
Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 7 or 10 in this Law, and it is difficult to determine the actual losses suffered by the rights holder due to the infringement or the profits earned by the infringer due to the infringement, the people's court shall award compensation of not more than CNY 5 million based on the circumstances of the infringement.
Article 23 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 7 of this Law by committing confusing conduct or aiding another person in committing confusing conduct, the supervision and inspection authority shall order the business operator to cease the illegal conduct, and confiscate the illegal goods. Where the illegal business turnover is not less than CNY 50,000, a fine of not more than five times the illegal business turnover may be also imposed. Where there is no illegal business turnover or the illegal business turnover is less than CNY 50,000, a fine of not more than CNY 250,000 may be also imposed. Where the circumstances are serious, its business license shall also be revoked.
A seller who sells illegal goods as provided for in Article 7 of this Law shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Where the seller is unaware that the goods sold by them are illegal goods, and can prove that they legally obtained the goods and indicate the supplier, the supervision and inspection authority shall order cessation of the sale without imposing an administrative penalty.
Where a business operator’s registered corporate name violates the provisions of Article 7 of this Law, the business operator shall promptly go through formalities to change its registered corporate name. Prior to the change of the corporate name, the corporate registration authority shall use the unified social credit code in lieu of its corporate name.
Article 24 Where a relevant entity violates the provisions of Article 8 of this Law by bribing another person or accepting a bribe, the supervision and inspection authority shall confiscate the illegal gains and impose a fine of not less than CNY 100,000 but not more than CNY 1 million. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 1 million but not more than CNY 5 million may be imposed, and the business license may also be revoked.
Where the legal representative, principal, or directly responsible person of a business operator is personally liable for engaging in bribery or personally accepts a bribe, the supervision and inspection authority shall confiscate the illegal gains and impose a fine of not more than CNY 1 million.
Article 25 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 9 of this Law by making false or misleading commercial advertisements for its goods, or assists another business operator in making false or misleading commercial advertisements by organizing fraudulent transactions, false reviews or other approach, the supervision and inspection authority shall order the business operator to cease the illegal conduct and impose a fine of not more than CNY 1 million. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 1 million but not more than CNY 2 million may be imposed, and the business operator's business license may also be revoked.
Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 9 of this Law by releasing of a false advertisement, it shall be punished according to the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 26 Where a business operator or another natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization violates the provisions of Article 10 of this Law by infringing upon trade secrets, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal conduct, confiscate the illegal gains, and impose a fine of not less than CNY 100,000 but not more than CNY 1 million. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 1 million but not more than CNY 5 million shall be imposed.
Article 27 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 11 of this Law in its prize sales activities, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal conduct and impose a fine of not less than CNY 50, 000 but not more than CNY 500, 000.
Article 28 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 12 of this Law, thereby harming the business reputation or product reputation of another business operator, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal conduct, eliminate the impact, and impose a fine of not less than CNY 100,000 but not more than CNY 1 million. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 1 million but not more than CNY 5 million shall be imposed.
Article 29 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 13(2), (3) and (4) of this Law by engaging in unfair competition through the internet, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal conduct and impose a fine of not less than CNY 100,000 but not more than CNY 1 million. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 1 million but not more than CNY 5 million shall be imposed.
Article 30 Where a platform operator violates the provisions of Article 14 of this Law by forcing or covertly forcing business operators on the platform to sell goods at prices below cost, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal conduct and impose a fine of not less than CNY 50,000 but not more than CNY 500,000. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 500,000 but not more than CNY 2 million shall be imposed.
Article 31 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 15 of this Law by abusing its dominant position, the supervision and inspection authority of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall order it to make corrections within a prescribed time limit. Where it fails to make corrections within the time limit, a fine of not more than CNY 1 million shall be imposed. Where the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than CNY 1 million but not more than CNY 5 million shall be imposed
Article 32 Where a business operator violates the provisions of this Law by engaging in unfair competition, and proactively eliminates or mitigates the harmful consequences of the illegal conduct, or there are other such circumstances prescribed by law, a lighter or reduced administrative penalty shall be imposed in accordance with the law. Where the illegal conduct is minor and promptly corrected, and no harmful consequences have occurred, no administrative penalty shall be imposed.
Article 33 Where a business operator violates the provisions of this Law by committing unfair competition and is subject to an administrative penalty, the supervision and inspection authority shall enter such penalty in its credit record and publicly disclose the same in accordance with the relevant laws or administrative regulations.
Article 34 Where a business operator violates the provisions of this Law, it shall bear civil, administrative, and criminal liability; if its property is not sufficient to cover all the damages, the civil liability shall take precedence.
Article 35 Where an individual or entity obstructs the supervision and inspection authority from fulfilling their duties in accordance with this Law, or refuses or impedes investigations, the supervision and inspection authority shall order the individual or entity to make corrections, and impose a fine of not more than CNY 10, 000 on the individual or a fine of not more than CNY 100, 000 on the entity.
Article 36 Where the party concerned is dissatisfied with a decision made by the supervision and inspection authority, it may apply for administrative reconsideration or institute an administrative lawsuit in accordance with the law.
Article 37 Where any staff member of a supervision and inspection authority abuses powers, neglects duties, commits malpractices for personal gain, or reveals any trade secrets, personal privacy, or personal information learned during an investigation, such staff member shall be punished in accordance with the law
Article 38 Where an individual or entity violates the provisions of this Law and the violation of this Law constitutes a violation of public security administration, public security administrative penalties shall be imposed on such individual or entity in accordance with the law. Where such violations constitute a crime, criminal liability against such individual or entity shall be pursued in accordance with the law.
Article 39 In civil proceedings of trade secret infringement, where the rights holder of a trade secret provides preliminary evidence proving that they have taken confidentiality measures for the claimed trade secret, and reasonably demonstrates that the trade secret has been infringed, the suspected infringer shall prove that the trade secret claimed by the rights holder does not fall within the scope of trade secrets defined in this Law.
Where the rights holder of a trade secret provides preliminary evidence reasonably demonstrating that the trade secret has been infringed and provides any of the following evidence, the suspected infringer shall prove that it has not infringed the trade secret:
1) evidence demonstrating that the suspected infringer has a channel or has an opportunity to obtain the trade secret and that the information used by the suspected infringer is substantially identical with the trade secret;
2) evidence demonstrating that the trade secret has been disclosed or used by the suspected infringer, or is at risk of being disclosed or used by the suspected infringer; or
3) other evidence demonstrating that the trade secret has been infringed by the suspected infringer.
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Article 40 Where any of unfair competition acts as provided for in this Law is committed outside the territory of the People's Republic of China, which disrupts the domestic market competition order or harms the legitimate rights and interests of an domestic business operator or consumer, it shall be handled in accordance with this Law and relevant laws.
Article 41 This Law shall enter into force as of October 15, 2025.
