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(Adopted at the Third Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People’s Congress on September 2, 1993; Revised for the first time at the Thirtieth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress on November 4, 2017; Revised in accordance with the Decision on Revising the Construction Law of the People’s Republic of China and Other Seven Laws at the Tenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress on April 23, 2019; revised for the second time at the Sixteenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress on June 27, 2025)
 
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 Provisions
 
Chapter I General Provisions
 
Article 1  This Law is formulated for the purposes of promoting sound development of the socialist market economy, encouraging and protecting fair competition, preventing and stopping 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, comply with applicable laws and business ethics, and participate fairly in market competition in their production and business activities.
For purpose 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 purpose 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 work on anti-unfair competition adheres to the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
 
China improves and perfects the system of rules against unfair competition, strengthens law enforcement and judicial enforcement against unfair competition, maintains the order of competition in the marketplace, and improves a unified, open, competitive and orderly market system.
 
China establishes and improves the fair competition review system, strengthens the fair competition review process in accordance with the law, and ensures that all types of business entities make equal use of factors of production and participate fairly in market competition in accordance with the law.
 
Article 4  The people’s governments at all levels shall take measures to prevent and stop acts of unfair competition and create favorable environments and conditions for fair competition.
 
The State Council establishes and improves the coordination mechanism for anti-unfair competition work and coordinates to settle major issues in maintaining the order of market competition.
 
Article 5  Departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level that perform the duty of industrial and commercial administration supervise and inspect acts of unfair competition, unless a law or an administrative regulation requires any other department to do so.

Article 6  China encourages, supports, and protects organizations and individuals to engage in public supervision over unfair competition acts, and protects such organizations and individuals engaged in such supervision.
 
China’s state organs and their staff members shall not support or cover up acts of unfair competition.
 
Industry organizations shall strengthen self-regulation within the industry, guide and regulate business entities of the industry to compete lawfully, and maintain the order of market competition.
 
Chapter II  Acts of Unfair Competition
 
Article 7  Any 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 entity or has a certain connection with another entity:
 
i. Using, without authorization, any mark identical or similar to the name, packaging or decoration, etc. of another entity’s goods which has certain reputation;
 
ii. Using, without authorization, another entity’s name (including short name and brand name), or a person’s name (including pseudonym, stage name, and name translation), in each case with certain reputation;
 
iii. Using, without authorization, the principal part of a domain name, the name of a website, or a web page, the name of a new media account, the name or icon of an application program, etc., in each case with certain reputation, of another entity; or
 
iv. Any other confusing act sufficient to mislead the consumers into believing that its goods is the goods of another entity or has certain connection with another business.

Using, without authorization, another entity’s registered trademark or unregistered well-known trademark in the name of its corporate name, or setting another’ entity’s product name, corporate name (including short name and brand name), registered trademark, unregistered well-known trademark, and the like as a key word for search, misleading the consumers into believing that its goods is the goods of another entity or has certain connection with another business, shall be determined as a confusing act prescribed in the preceding article.
 
Any business entity shall not assist another entity in performing a confusing act.
 
Article 8  Any 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:
 
i. Any employee of the other party to a transaction;
 
ii. Any unit or individual authorized by the other party to a transaction to handle the relevant affairs; or
 
iii. Any other unit or individual that may use power or influence to affect a transaction.
 
Any unit or individual provided in the preceding paragraphs shall not accept a bribery.
 
A business entity may, in the course of a transaction activity, 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 that 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 9  Any 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.
 
Any business entity shall not assist another business entity in any false or misleading commercial publicity by organizing false transactions, faking consumer reviews, or by any other means.
 
Article 10  Any business entity shall not commit any of the following acts of trade secret infringement:
 
i. Obtaining a trade secret from the right holder by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, hacking into the electronic information system or any other illicit means;
 
ii. Disclosing, using, or permitting another to use said trade secret obtained from the right holder by means as specified in the preceding paragraph;
 
iii. Disclosing, using, or permitting another to use a trade secret in possession in violation of a confidentiality obligation, or the requirements of the right holder, for protecting the confidentiality of trade secrets;
 
iv. abetting, or luring, or aiding another to obtain, disclose, use or permit another to use a trade secret of the right holder by in violation of a confidentiality obligation, or the requirements of the right 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 right 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, the term “trade secret” means any commercial information unknown to the public, including but not limited to technology or business information, with a commercial value and for which the right holder has taken proper confidentiality measures.
 
Article 11  The following circumstances shall be prohibited in the case of a business entity launching a premium sale activity:
 
i. The information on the premium sales activity including the types of prizes, conditions for claiming prizes, the specific prizes or the sum of prizes, etc. is so ambiguous as to affect claiming prize;
 
ii. altering, without a good cause, the type information on the premium sales activity including the types of prizes, conditions for claiming prizes, the specific prizes or the sum of prizes, etc., after the premium sales activity has started;
 
iii. making fake prize or intentionally letting inside persons to win the prize; or
 
iv. the sum of the top prize exceeding RMB 50,000 yuan in the case of a lottery-based premium sales.
 
Article 12  Any business entity shall not fabricate or disseminate, or instigate another to fabricate or disseminate false or misleading information in order to damage the goodwill of a competitor or the reputation of a competitor’s goods.
 
Article 13  Any business entity engaged in production or distribution via the internet shall abide by the provisions of this Law.

Any business entity shall not, by using data, algorithms, techniques, platform operating rules, etc., 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:
 
i. Without consent of another entity, inserting a link or forcing a target redirection in an online product or service lawfully provided by the said other business entity;
 
ii. Misleading, tricking or forcing users to alter, shut down, or uninstall an online product or service lawfully provided by another business entity;
 
iii. Causing, in bad faith, incompatibility with an online product or service lawfully provided by another business entity; or
 
iv. Any other act that interferes with or sabotages the normal operation of online products or services lawfully provided by another business entity.
 
Any business entity shall not obtain or use data lawfully held by another business entity by improper means, such as by fraud, coercion, getting around or sabotaging technical management measures, to cause damage to the lawful rights and interests of said another business entity and to the disruption of the order of market competition.
 
The business entity shall not abuse the platform rules, directly or instigate another to commit false transactions, false reviews, or malicious returns against another business entity, to cause damage to the lawful rights and interests of said another business entity and to the disruption of the order of market competition.
 
Article 14  Any platform-running entity shall not force or force, in a disguised form, a business entity within the platform to sell goods at a price lower than the cost in accordance with the pricing rules formulated by the platform-running entity, disrupting the order of market competition.
 
Article 15  Large enterprises and other business entities shall not abuse their dominant positions in terms of capital, technology, trading channels, and industry influence, etc., to require small and medium-sized enterprises to accept obviously unreasonable transaction conditions such as payment deadlines, modes, conditions and default liabilities, and to default on payments to small and medium-sized enterprises in respect of goods, projects, services, etc.
 
Chapter III Investigation into Suspected Acts of Unfair Competition
 
Article 16  The regulatory department may take the following measures in investigating a suspected act of unfair competition:
 
i. Entering and investigating a business premise suspected of being involved in an act of unfair competition;
 
ii. 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 act under investigation;
 
iii. Checking and duplicating agreements, account books, documents, files, records, business letters, and other materials relating to the suspected act of unfair competition;
 
iv. Seizing or detaining money or things relating to the suspected act of unfair competition; and
 
v. 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 ivand vof 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 abide by the Administrative Coercion 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 the results of the investigation and handling to the public in a timely manner.
 
Article 17  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 18  Where a business entity is suspected of violating the provisions of this Law, the regulatory department may interview the relevant responsible person of the business entity and require him or her to explain the situation and propose improvement measures.
 
Article 19  Regulatory departments and their staff member are obliged by law to maintain confidentiality of trade secrets, personal privacy and personal information learned in the course of investigation.
 
Article 20  Any unit or individual has 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 department shall publish the telephone number, mailing box, or e-mail address 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 in a timely manner.
 
Article 21  A platform-running entity shall specify the rules of fair competition within the platform in the platform service agreement and transaction rules, establish a mechanism for reporting and complaint of unfair competition and dispute disposal, and guide and regulate business entities to compete fairly within the platform in accordance with the law; and where it is discovered that a business entity within the platform has committed an of unfair competition, it shall take the necessary measures in a timely manner in accordance with the law, keep the relevant records, and report to the regulatory department of the people’s government at or above the county level where the business entity is domiciled in accordance with relevant articles and regulations.
 
Chapter IV Legal Liability
 
Article 22  Any business entity that causes damage to another 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 the people’s court of competent jurisdiction.
 
The amount of damages for the losses of a business entity caused by an act of unfair competition shall be determined based on the actual loss caused by the infringement or based on the benefits obtained by the infringer from the infringement. Where a business entity has maliciously committed an act of infringement to a trade secret with flagrant circumstances, the amount of damages shall be no less than one time and not more than five times the amount determined by the afore-mentioned method. The amount of damages shall further include the reasonable costs of a business entity for stopping the infringement.
 
Where a business entity violates Article 7 or 10 of this Law, and it is difficult to determine the actual loss of the right holder incurred by the infringement and the gains of the infringer from the infringement, the people’s court of competent jurisdiction may, at its discretion, award damages not exceeding RMB 5,000,000 yuan to the right holder based on the circumstances of the infringement.
 
Article 23  Where a business entity commits or assists another in committing an act of creating confusion in violation of Article 7 of this Law, the regulatory department shall order it to cease such illegal activity and confiscate the 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; in cases of gross violation, the business license of the infringer shall be revoked.
 
Where illegal products prescribed in Article 7 is sold, a punishment shall be applied in accordance with the preceding paragraph; for a seller who is unaware that the product sold is an illegal product, the regulatory department shall order the seller to stop the sales, without applying an administrative punishment, provided that the product is proved to be acquired by legal means and the provider is stated.
 
Any business entity whose registered name does not comply with Article 7 of this Law shall, in a timely manner, undergo name modification registration; and prior to name modification, the original enterprise registration authority shall use its uniform social credit code instead of its name.
 
Article 24  Where any business entity commits or accepts bribery in violation of Article 8 of this Law, the regulatory department shall confiscate its illegal income and impose a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan and not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan on it. In cases of gross violation, its business license shall be revoked.
 
Where a legal person, a principal responsible person, and a direct responsible person is personally reliable for the conduct of bribery, and where an individual accepts a bribery, the regulatory department shall confiscate the illegal income and impose a fine of no more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan.
 
Article 25  Where a business entity conducts any false or misleading commercial publicity about its products or assists another business entity in any false or misleading commercial publicity by fabricating transactions or reviews or by any other means in violation of Article 9 of this Law, the regulatory department shall order it to cease its such illegal activities, and it shall be punished by a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 yuan and not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan, or in cases of gross violation by a fine of not less than RMB 1,000,000 yuan and not more than RMB 2,000,000 yuan, while its business license may be revoked additionally.
 
Violation by a business entity of Article 9 of this Law that constitutes publishing false advertisement shall be punished pursuant to the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China.
 
Article 26  Where any business entity, natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization infringes upon a trade secret of another in violation of Article 10 of this Law, the regulatory department shall order it to cease such illegal activity, confiscate the illegal gains, and impose a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan and not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan, or a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan and not more than RMB 5,000,000 yuan in cases of gross violation.
 
Article 27  Where any business entity conducts a premium sales activity in violation of Article 11 of this Law, the regulatory department shall order it to cease such illegal activity and impose on it a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan and not more than RMB 500,000 yuan.
 
Article 28  Where any business entity causes any damage to the goodwill of a competitor or the reputation of a competitor’s goods in violation of Article 12 of this Law, the regulatory department shall order it to cease such illegal activity, to eliminate the adverse effects, and shall impose a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan and not more than RMB 500,000 yuan, or a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan and not more than RMB 3,000,000 yuan in cases of gross violation.
 
Article 29  Where any business entity engages in unfair competition by using the internet in violation of Article 13 paragraphs ii, iii, and ivof this Law, the regulatory department shall order the cessation of the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 yuan and not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan or, in cases of gross violation, a fine of not less than 1,000,000 yuan and not more than RMB 5,000,000 yuan.
 
Article 30  Where any platform-running entity forces or forces, in a disguised form, a business entity within the platform to sell goods at a price lower than the cost in violation of Article 14 of this law, the regulatory department shall order the cessation of the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan and not more than RMB 500,000 yuan, or a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 yuan and not more than RMB 2,000,000 yuan in cases of gross violation.
 
Article 31  Where any business entity abuses its dominant position in violation of Article 15 of this law, the regulatory department of the people’s government at or above the provincial level shall order a corrective action to be taken within a specified period of time; and if the corrective action is not taken within the specified period of time, it shall impose a fine of not more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan, or a fine of not less than RMB 1,000,000 yuan and not more than RMB 5,000,000 yuan in cases of gross violation.
 
Article 32  Where any business entity 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 law; if the illegal act is minor and corrected in a timely manner without leading any harmful consequence, no administrative punishment shall be imposed.
 
Article 33  Where any business entity is subject to an administrative punishment for conducting an act of unfair competition in violation of this Law, the regulatory department shall enter such facts into the credit recording system, and make relevant public announcements in accordance with applicable laws and administrative regulations.
 
Article 34  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 35  Where any business entity prevents the regulatory department from performing the duties pursuant to this Law, or refuses to cooperate or otherwise impedes an investigation of the regulatory department, the regulatory department shall order the business entity to take corrective actions, and may impose on an individual a fine of not more than RMB 5,000 yuan, or impose on a unit a fine of not more than RMB 50,000 yuan.
 
Article 36  Where a party is unsatisfied with the decision of the regulatory department, it may apply for administrative reconsideration or file administrative lawsuit.
 
Article 37  Any official or staff member of the regulatory department who abuses his/her power, commits dereliction of duties, makes falsehood for personal gains, or divulges any trade secret that comes into possession in the course of an investigation shall be punished pursuant to applicable laws.
 
Article 38  Who violates this Law such as to constitute violation of public security administration shall be imposed with public security administration penalties in accordance with law; where a criminal offence is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
 
Article 39  In a civil proceeding on the infringement of trade secret, the right 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 right holder does not constitute a “trade secret” under this Law.
 
The alleged infringer shall prove the absence of the infringement, provided that the right 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:
 
i. Evidence indicating that the alleged infringer has the method or opportunity to obtain the trade secret, and the information used by the alleged infringer is substantially the same with the trade secret in question;
 
ii. Evidence indicating that the trade secret has been disclosed or used, or is at risk of disclosure or use, by the alleged infringer; or
 
iii. Other evidence indicating that the trade secret has been infringed upon by the alleged infringer.
 
Chapter V Supplemental Provisions
 
Article 40  Where any act of unfair competition conducted outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China disrupts the order of competition in the domestic market of China and jeopardizes the legitimate rights and interests of business entities or consumers in the territory of the People’s Republic of China, the provisions of this Law and relevant laws shall apply.
 
Article 41  This law shall come into force on October 15, 2025.