(Adopted at the third meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on September 2, 1993; promulgated by the President of the People's Republic of China on September 2, 1993; came into effect on December 1, 1993)
The Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China
Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to protect the healthy development of the socialist market economy, encourage and protect fair competition, prevent unfair competition, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers.
Article 2 The operator shall, in market transactions, follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, and good faith, and observe the generally recognized business ethics.
Unfair competition, as referred to in this Law, means the act of an operator who violates the provisions of this Law, damages the legitimate rights and interests of other operators and disrupts the social and economic order.
The operator referred to in this Law means a legal person, other economic organization and individual who engage in the operation of goods or profit-making services (hereinafter referred to as goods including services).
Article 3 The people's governments at all levels shall take measures to prevent unfair competition and create a good environment and conditions for fair competition.
The industrial and commercial administrative departments of the people's governments at the county level and above shall supervise and inspect unfair competition acts; where the law and administrative regulations provide that other departments shall supervise and inspect, such provisions shall be observed.
Article 4 The State encourages, supports, and protects all organizations and individuals in exercising social supervision over unfair competition.
State functionaries shall not support or connive at unfair competition.
Chapter II Unfair Competition Behaviors
Article 5 The operator shall not engage in unfair competition by any of the following means in market transactions, causing damage to competitors:
(1) Counterfeiting the registered trademark of another person;
(II) The use of the distinctive name, packaging, or decoration of a well-known product, or the use of a name, packaging, or decoration that is similar to that of a well-known product, which causes confusion with other people's well-known products and leads buyers to believe that it is that well-known product;
(3) Using the name of another enterprise or individual without permission, leading people to believe that it is someone else's product;
(4) Counterfeiting or misusing certification marks, famous product marks, or other quality marks on goods, forging the origin of goods, and making false statements about the quality of goods that are likely to mislead the public.
Article 6 Public utilities or other operators with a monopoly position in accordance with the law shall not restrict others from purchasing goods from operators designated by them in order to squeeze out fair competition from other operators.
Article 7 The government and its departments shall not abuse their administrative powers to force others to purchase the goods of the operators designated by them, or restrict the legitimate business activities of other operators.
The government and its departments shall not abuse administrative power to restrict the entry of goods from other places into the local market, or the flow of local goods to other places.
Article 8 An operator shall not offer a kickback to a counterparty in the form of property or other means in order to sell or purchase goods. An operator who offers a kickback to a counterparty in the form of property or other means in a hidden and off-the-books manner shall be deemed to have committed the crime of bribery; a counterparty who receives a kickback in a hidden and off-the-books manner shall be deemed to have committed the crime of accepting a bribe.
The operator may give a discount to the other party in an open manner when selling or purchasing goods, and may pay a commission to the intermediary. The operator must record the discount given to the other party and the commission paid to the intermediary truthfully. The operator who receives a discount or commission must record it truthfully.
Article 9 The operator shall not, by means of advertising or other methods, make false propaganda about the quality, composition, performance, purpose, producer, validity period, origin, etc. of goods in a way that is likely to cause misunderstanding.
The operator of an advertisement shall not, with the knowledge or in the contemplation of the fact, act as an agent, design, produce, or release a false advertisement.
Article 10 The operator shall not infringe the trade secret by the following means:
(1)acquire the trade secrets of the rights owner by theft, enticement, coercion, or other improper means;
(II) Disclosing, using, or allowing others to use the trade secrets of the rights holder obtained by the means referred to in the preceding paragraph;
(3) Disclosing, using, or allowing others to use the trade secrets that they possess in violation of the agreement or the requirements of the rights holder regarding the maintenance of trade secrets.
A third party who knows or should know the acts of infringement referred to in the preceding paragraph, and obtains, uses or discloses the trade secrets of another, shall be deemed to infringe on trade secrets.
The trade secret referred to in this Article means technical information and business information that is not known to the public, can bring economic benefits to the right holder, is practical and has been taken confidentiality measures by the right holder.
Article 11: An operator shall not sell goods at a price lower than the cost with the purpose of squeezing out competitors.
The following acts do not constitute unfair competition:
(1) Selling fresh goods;
(II) goods that are about to exceed the validity period of the treatment or other backlogged goods;
(III) Seasonal Discounts;
(iv) Liquidation of debts, change of production, discount sales of goods due to closure.
Article 12 An operator shall not, in the sale of goods, sell goods in combination with other goods against the will of the buyer or attach other unreasonable conditions.
Article 13 The operator shall not engage in the following promotional sales:
(1) Using欺骗ful means such as falsely claiming a prize or deliberately allowing designated individuals to win a prize in a prize sale;
(II) Promoting goods of poor quality and high price by means of prize sales;
(3)抽 prize sales, the highest prize of which exceeds five thousand yuan.
Article 14: Business operators shall not fabricate or disseminate false information about their competitors, damaging their commercial reputation and product reputation.
Article 15: Bidders shall not collude in bidding, drive up the bid price or suppress the bid price.
Tenderers and tenderee shall not collude with each other to the exclusion of fair competition of competitors.
Chapter 3 Supervision and Inspection
Article 16 The supervisory and inspection departments at or above the county level may supervise and inspect unfair competition.
Article 17 The supervisory and inspection departments have the power to exercise the following authorities in supervising and inspecting unfair competition:
(1) Inquire of the inspected operators, interested parties, and witnesses according to the prescribed procedures, and require the provision of proof materials or other materials related to unfair competition;
(2) Inquiry, copying and investigation of agreements, books, documents, records, business correspondence and other materials related to unfair competition acts;
(3) Check the property related to the unfair competition acts stipulated in Article 5 of this Law, and order the operators being inspected to explain the source and quantity of the goods if necessary, suspend the sale of the goods, and be subject to inspection, and shall not transfer, conceal or destroy the property.
Article 18 The staff of the supervisory and inspection departments shall show their inspection documents when supervising and inspecting unfair competition.
Article 19 The supervisory and inspection departments shall require the inspected operators, interested parties and witnesses to provide relevant information or materials truthfully when they are supervising and inspecting unfair competition.
Chapter IV Legal Liability
Article 20 The operator shall be liable for damages if he violates the provisions of this Law and causes loss to the aggrieved operator, and if the loss of the aggrieved operator is difficult to calculate, the amount of compensation shall be the profit obtained by the infringer during the period of infringement; and he shall also bear the reasonable expenses paid by the aggrieved operator for investigating the unfair competition act of the operator which infringes upon his legal rights and interests.
The legitimate rights and interests of the operator who is damaged shall be protected by the people's court.
Article 21 An operator who counterfeits another's registered trademark, uses another's business name or name without authorization, forges or misuses quality marks such as certification marks, famous marks, etc., forges the origin of goods, and makes a false representation of the quality of goods that is likely to cause confusion shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China and the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China.
The operator shall be ordered to stop the illegal act, the illegal gains shall be confiscated, and a fine of one to three times the illegal gains may be imposed according to the circumstances; if the circumstances are serious, the business license may be revoked; if the operator sells goods that do not meet the standards, constituting a crime, the criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
Article 22 An operator who uses property or other means to bribe in order to sell or purchase goods shall be investigated for criminal responsibility if the act constitutes a crime; if the act does not constitute a crime, the supervisory and inspection department may impose a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan according to the circumstances, and any illegal gains shall be confiscated.
Article 23 Enterprises or other operators with exclusive position in accordance with the law shall be ordered by the supervisory and inspection departments of provinces or prefecture-level cities to stop the illegal acts if they force others to buy the goods of the designated operators in order to squeeze out the fair competition of other operators. The supervisory and inspection departments may impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan and not more than 200,000 yuan according to the circumstances. If the designated operators sell inferior goods at high prices or charge excessive fees by taking advantage of this, the supervisory and inspection departments shall seize the illegal gains and may impose a fine of one to three times the illegal gains according to the circumstances.
Article 24: If an operator uses advertising or other means to make false and misleading publicity about goods, the supervisory department shall order it to stop the illegal act, eliminate the impact, and may impose a fine of more than 10,000 yuan and less than 200,000 yuan according to the circumstances.
The operator of an advertisement, who, knowing or reasonably should know, acts as an agent, designs, produces, or issues a false advertisement, shall be ordered by the supervisory department to stop the illegal act, seize the illegal gains, and impose a fine in accordance with the law.
Article 25 If a party violates Article 10 of this Law and infringes on trade secrets, the supervisory and inspection department shall order it to stop the illegal act and may impose a fine of not more than 200,000 yuan and not less than 10,000 yuan according to the circumstances.
Article 26 The operator who violates Article 13 of this Law in making a sale with a prize shall be ordered by the department supervising and managing the act to stop the illegal act, and may be fined up to 100,000 yuan according to the circumstances.
Article 27 Bidders who collude in bidding, drive up or suppress the bid price; bidders and tenderers who collude with each other to squeeze out the fair competition of competitors, the winning bid is invalid. The supervisory and inspection department may impose a fine of more than 10,000 yuan and less than 200,000 yuan according to the circumstances.
Article 28 If an operator who has been ordered to suspend sales transfers, hides, or destroys property related to an unfair competition act, the supervisory department may impose a fine of one to three times the value of the property that has been sold, transferred, hidden, or destroyed.
Article 29 If the parties are not satisfied with the penalty decision made by the supervisory and inspection department, they may apply for a review to the superior competent department within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the penalty decision; if they are not satisfied with the review decision, they may file a lawsuit with the people's court within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the review decision; they may also file a lawsuit directly with the people's court.
Article 30 Government departments and their affiliated departments violate Article 7 of this Law by limiting others to purchase the goods of the operators designated by them, restricting the legitimate business activities of other operators, or restricting the normal circulation of goods between regions, the superior authorities shall order them to correct; in serious cases, the same level or superior authorities shall give administrative sanctions to the directly responsible personnel. If the operators designated in this way sell goods of poor quality and high price or charge fees at will, the supervisory and inspection departments shall seize the illegal gains, and may impose a fine of one to three times the illegal gains according to the circumstances.
Article 31 The state functionaries who abuse their power or neglect their duty in supervising and inspecting the acts of unfair competition shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law; if they do not constitute a crime, they shall be given administrative sanctions.
Article 32 The state functionaries who supervise and inspect unfair competition shall be investigated for official crimes if they commit official crimes such as favoring and shielding operators who violate the provisions of this Law and constitute crimes with the purpose of shielding them from investigation.
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Article 33: This Law shall take effect on December 1, 1993.