(Yicai) Dec. 22 -- Chinese authorities have issued new rules to regulate the pricing practices of internet platforms, aiming to curb vicious price competition among operators and protect the rights of merchants and consumers

The policy document jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Cyberspace Administration of China on Dec. 20 prohibits platform operators and merchants from conducting various practices, including predatory pricing, price discrimination, collusion to raise prices, price fraud, and price gouging. The new regulations will kick in on April 10.

In addition, the document proposes to regulate fees charged by platform operators to merchants and to protect sellers' right to set their own prices, banning operators from imposing unreasonable restrictions or additional conditions on the pricing behavior of merchants. It also provides detailed management rules for a series of pricing behaviors between platforms and merchants.

The new regulations address issues with e-commerce platforms pressuring merchants to lower prices, self-competitive pricing among merchants, misleading pricing practices, and others, Pan Helin, a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's expert committee on the information and communications economy, told Yicai. They provide specific management guidelines and are expected to standardize the pricing of goods, easing destrctive price competition, Pan added.

The document provides executable corrective measures for typical improper pricing behaviors, Han Wei, associate professor at the School of Law of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said to Yicai. Its requirements for information disclosure by platform operators respect market mechanisms and help ensure the standardization of pricing behaviors on platforms, effectively achieving a balance between an efficient market and proactive government intervention, Han noted.

The new document also addresses consumer protection rights, requiring platform operators to publicly disclose rules regarding subsidies and promotions, which aims to curb deceptive consumer subsidy practices such as "raising prices before lowering them" through transparent regulations. It also encourages operators to establish online dispute resolution mechanisms for pricing issues, as well as commitments and guarantee systems for product quality.

The management rules are formulated based on existing laws and regulations, with a focus on protecting the legitimate rights and interests of merchants and consumers, said Yu Fengxia, director of the State Information Center's informatization and industry development department, adding that these rules will not affect platforms' normal business practice.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev