(Adopted at the Third Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on September 2, 1993; amended at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on November 4, 2017; amended for the second time according to the Decision on the Revision of Eight Laws including the Construction Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on 23 April 2019) 

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Unfair Competition Acts

Chapter III Investigation into Suspected Unfair Competition Acts

Chapter IV Legal Responsibility

Chapter V Supplementary Provision

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is formulated with a view to promoting the healthy development of the socialist market economy, encouraging and protecting fair competition, preventing acts of unfair competition, and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of business operators and consumers.

Article 2 While carrying out production or business activities, a business operator shall follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, and good faith, abide by laws and observe business ethics.

For the purpose of this Law, unfair competition refers to any business operator's act of participating in the production and operation activities in violation of the provisions herein to disrupt the competition order in the market and infringe the legitimate rights and interests of other business operators or consumers.

For the purpose of this Law, a business operator refers to a natural or legal person or any other unincorporated association engaged in the manufacturing or trading of commodities or the provision of services ("commodities" referred to hereinafter include services).

Article 3 People's governments at various levels shall take measures to prevent acts of unfair competition and create a favorable environment and conditions for fair competition.

The State Council shall establish an anti-unfair competition work coordination mechanism, study and decide on major anti-unfair competition policies, and coordinate and deal with major issues to maintain the competition order.

Article 4 The department responsible for administration for industry and commerce under a people's government at or above the county level shall investigate and deal with acts of unfair competition. Where laws or administrative regulations provide that such acts shall be investigated and handled by another department, those provisions shall apply.

Article 5 The State encourages, supports and protects all organizations and individuals in the exercise of social supervision over unfair competition acts.

State organs and their staff members shall not support or cover up any unfair competition conduct.

Industry organizations shall strengthen industry self-discipline, guide and regulate their members to compete according to the law, and maintain the competition order in the market. 

Chapter II Unfair Competition Acts

Article 6 A business operator shall not perform any of the following confusing acts that will enable people to mistake its products for another business's products or believe certain relations exist between its products and any business's products,

1. unauthorized use of a mark that is identical or similar to the name, packaging or decoration of another business's commodity, which has influence to a certain extent, 

2. unauthorized use of another business's corporate name (including its shortened name, trade name, etc.), the name of a social group (including its shortened name, etc.), or the name of an individual (including his or her pen name, stage name, etc.), which has influence to a certain extent;

3. unauthorized use of the main domain name, website name or webpage, which has influence to a certain extent; and

4. other confusing acts that are sufficient to enable people to mistake its products for another business's products or believe certain relations exist between its products and any business's products. 

Article 7 A business operator shall not resort to bribery, by offering money or goods or by any other means, to any of the following entities or individuals, in order to seek a transaction opportunity or competitive advantage, 

1. any employee of the counterparty in a transaction;

2. any entity or individual entrusted by the counterparty in a transaction to handle relevant affairs; or

3. any other entity or individual that is to take advantage of powers or influence to influence a transaction.

A business operator may expressly give a discount to the counterparty or pay a commission to the middleman of a transaction in the course of transaction activities. Where a business operator gives a discount to the transaction counterparty or pays a commission to the middleman, it shall truthfully enter it in his account books. A business operator that accepts such discount or commission shall also enter it into its account books.

The act of an employee of a business operator bribing any other individual shall be deemed an act of the business operator itself, unless otherwise proven by the business operator with evidence that such act is not related to efforts in seeking a transaction opportunity or competitive advantage.

Article 8 A business operator shall not conduct commercial promotions for the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation, honor received concerning its products in a false or misleading manner, attempting to cheat or mislead consumers.

A business operator shall not assist another business operator with its commercial promotions in a false or misleading manner by way of organizing false transactions or by other means. 

Article 9 A business operator shall not engage in any of the following infringements on trade secrets:

1. obtaining an obligee's trade secrets by theft, bribery, intimidation, hacking or other improper means;

2. disclosing, using, or allowing others to use an obligee's trade secrets obtained by the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph; or

3. disclosing, using or allowing others to use an obligee's trade secrets in violation of the confidentiality obligations or the obligee's requirements on keeping such trade secrets confidential.

4. instigating, tempting, and helping others to violate confidentiality obligations or to violate the obligee’s requirements for keeping the confidentiality of trade secrets to acquire, disclose, use or allow others to use the obligee’s secrets.

Natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations other than a business operator committing the illegal acts listed in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to have infringed on trade secrets.

Where a third party knows or should know of the fact that an employee or former employee of the obligee of trade secrets or any other entity or individual conducts any of the illegal acts specified in the paragraph 1 of this Article, but still accepts, publishes, uses or allows any other to use such secrets, such practice shall be deemed as infringement on trade secrets.

For the purpose of this Law, trade secrets refer to any technical information or operational information which is not known to the public and has commercial value, and for which its obligee has adopted measures to ensure its confidentiality.

Article 10 The prize-attached sale activities of a business operator shall not involve the following situations:

1. making sales with prizes attached without expressly specifying the prize types, terms for collecting prizes, the amounts of cash or the goods as prizes, or other related information that will affect the collection of prizes;

2. making sales with prizes attached in a fraudulent manner by falsely claiming the existence of prizes or intentionally causing internally-chosen persons to win the prizes; and

3. making sales with prizes attached in the form of a lucky draw where the amount of the highest prize exceeds CNY50, 000.

Article 11 A business operator shall not fabricate or disseminate any false information or misleading information to injure the credit standing of its rival or the reputation of its rival's commodities.

Article 12 A business operator that makes use of the network to engage in production and business activities shall abide by all the provisions herein.

It shall not perform any of the following acts that impede or disrupt the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by other business operators, by taking advantage of technical means to influence users' choices or otherwise,

1. inserting a link into a network product or service legally provided by another operator to compel a destination jump without the approval of such operator;

2. misleading, deceiving or compelling users into modifying, closing, or uninstalling a network product or service legally provided by another business operator;

3. implementing in bad faith an incompatibility with a network product or service legally provided by another business operator; or

4. any other act that impedes or disrupts the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by another business operator.

Chapter III Investigations into Suspected Unfair Competition Acts

Article 13 The supervision and inspection authorities may adopt any of the following measures to investigate suspected unfair competition conduct,

1. accessing the business premises involved in a suspected unfair competition act for inspection;

2. questioning the business operator under investigation, any interested party, or any other related entity or individual, 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 a suspected unfair competition act;

4. sealing up and/or detaining the property involved in a suspected unfair competition act; and

5. inquiring into the bank account of a business operator that is suspected of an 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 city with district division for his or her approval.

The supervision and inspection authorities shall abide by the Administrative Coercion Law of the People's Republic of China and other applicable laws and administrative regulations while looking into suspected unfair competition acts, and disclose the investigation and handling results to the public in a timely manner.

Article 14 The business operators subject to investigation, interested parties, and other related entities or individuals, shall truthfully provide the relevant materials or information when the supervision and inspection authorities are investigating suspected unfair competition conduct.

Article 15 The supervision and inspection authorities and their staff members shall keep confidential any trade secrets known to them during the investigations. 

Article 16 Any entity or individual shall have the right to report any suspected unfair competition acts to the supervision and inspection authority. The supervision and inspection authority shall promptly deal with such reports according to the law upon receipt of these reports.

The supervision and inspection authorities shall make available to the public the phone numbers, mailing addresses or email addresses for such reports and keep the identities of informants confidential. For real-name informants who present evidence for their claims, the supervision and inspection authorities shall inform them of the handling results.

Chapter IV Legal Liability

Article 17 A business operator that violates this Law and thus causes damage to others shall bear civil liability for such damage in accordance with the law.

A business operator whose lawful rights and interests are infringed by an unfair competition act may file a lawsuit with a people's court.

The amount of compensation for damage caused by any unfair competition act to a business operator shall be determined depending on the actual losses suffered by such operator as a result of the infringement; where it is truly difficult to work out the actual losses, such amount shall be determined in accordance with the benefits obtained by the infringer from the infringement. Where a business operator maliciously infringes the trade secrets and in case of serious acts, the amount of compensation shall be more than one time but less than five times the amount determined according to the aforementioned method. The amount of compensation shall also include the reasonable expenses paid by the damaged business operator to stop the infringement.

Where a business operator violates the provisions stipulated in Article 6 or Article 9 herein, and it is truly difficult to determine the actual losses suffered by the obligee as a result of the infringement or the benefits obtained by the infringer from the infringement, the people's court shall award the obligee less than CNY5 million in damages, depending on the seriousness of the infringement.

Article 18 Where a business operator violates Article 6 herein by performing any confusing act, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the offense, and confiscate its illicit commodities. If the illicit turnover exceeds CNY50, 000, it shall be fined up to five times the illicit turnover. If there is no illicit turnover or the illicit turnover is less than CNY50, 000, it shall be fined up to CNY250, 000; where the circumstance is serious, it business license shall be revoked.

Where a corporate name registered under a business operator violates the provisions of Article 6 herein, the business operator shall go through formalities to change its registered corporate name promptly. Prior to the change of the corporate name, the original corporate registration authority shall use the unified social credit code in lieu of its corporate name.

Article 19 Where a business operator bribes any other party in violation of Article 7 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall confiscate its illegal gains, and impose on it a fine of between CNY100,000 and CNY3 million. Where the circumstance is serious, its business license shall be revoked.

Article 20 Where a business operator violates the provisions of Article 8 herein to conduct commercial promotions for its commodities in a false or misleading manner, or assists other business operators with commercial promotions in a false or misleading manner by way of organizing false transactions or by other means, the supervision and inspection authority shall order the business operator to cease its violations and impose on it a fine of between CNY200, 000 and CNY1 million; where the circumstance is serious, it shall be fined between CNY1 million and CNY2 million, and its business license may be revoked.

Where a business operator's violation of Article 8 herein constitutes the releasing of a false advertisement, it shall be punished according to the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 21 Where a business operator or other natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization infringes any commercial secret in violation of Article 9 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act, confiscate illegal gains and impose on it a fine of between CNY100, 000 and CNY1 million; where the circumstance is serious, the fine shall be between CNY500, 000 and CNY5 million.

Article 22 Where a business operator makes a prize-attached sale in violation of Article 10 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act and impose on it a fine of between CNY50, 000 and CNY500, 000.

Article 23 Where a business operator causes injury to the credit standing of its rivals or the reputation of its rivals' commodities in violation of Article 11 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act and eliminate any bad influences, and impose on it a fine of between CNY100, 000 and CNY500, 000; where the circumstance is serious, the fine shall be between CNY500, 000 and CNY3 million.

Article 24 Where a business operator impedes or disrupts the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by another business operator, in violation of Article 12 herein, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to cease the illegal act and impose on it a fine of between CNY100, 000 and CNY500, 000; where the circumstance is serious, the fine shall be between CNY500, 000 and CNY3 million.

Article 25 Where a business operator performs any unfair competition act in violation of the provisions herein, and if such operator proactively eliminates or relieves the harmful consequence of its illegal act, it shall be subject to a lighter or mitigated administrative penalty; if the illegal act is considered as a minor violation and is corrected in a timely manner without leading to any harmful consequence, it may not be subject to an administrative penalty.

Article 26 Where a business operator is subject to the administrative penalty for performing an unfair competition act in violation of this Law, 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 27 Where a business operator shall bear civil liability, administrative liability and criminal liability as a result of its violation of the provisions herein, but its property is not sufficient to cover all the damages, the civil liability shall take precedence.

Article 28 Where a party obstructs the efforts of the supervision and inspection authority to fulfill its duties according to this Law, refusing or impeding the investigations, the supervision and inspection authority shall order it to make corrections, and impose a fine of up to CNY5, 000 if the party is an individual, or a fine of up to CNY50, 000 if the party is an entity, and the public security organ may impose a public security punishment according to the law.

Article 29 Where the party concerned disagrees with the decision made by the supervision and inspection authority, it may apply for administrative reconsideration or file an administrative lawsuit.

Article 30 Where any staff member of a supervision and inspection authority abuses powers, neglects duties, commits malpractices or reveals any trade secrets known during the investigations, such staff member shall be subject to punishment in accordance with the law.

Article 31 Where any violation of this Law constitutes a crime, there shall be an investigation for criminal liability.

Article 32 In the civil proceeding of infringement upon trade secrets, where the right holder of the trade secrets has provided preliminary evidence showing that the obligee has taken measures to keep its trade secrets confidential, and has reasonably proved that the trade secrets have been infringed, the suspected infringer shall prove that the trade secrets claimed by the obligee do not belong to the trade secrets prescribed in this Law.

Where the obligee of the trade secrets has provided preliminary evidence showing that the trade secrets have been infringed and has also provided one of the following evidences, the suspected infringer shall prove that it does not have any act of trade secret infringement: 

1) evidence certifying that the suspected infringer has access to or has chance to obtain the trade secrets and that the information used by the suspected infringer is essentially identical with the trade secrets;

2) evidence showing that the trade secrets have been disclosed or used by the suspected infringer, or face the risk of being disclosed or used by the suspected infringer;

3) other evidence showing that the trade secrets have been infringed by the suspected infringer.

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Article 33 This Law shall come into force as of January 1, 2018.