China reviews draft amendment on unfair online competition

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China's latest draft amendment to the Unfair Competition Law made changes on regulating such unfair practices.

The draft revision was given a second reading at a five-day bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which opened Monday.

Compared with the previous draft reviewed in February, the new version of draft stipulates that online business operators must also follow the rules that are already in the law.

"Some unfair online competition is just the same as traditional competition, while some are unique to the Internet for technical reasons," said Zhang Mingqi, vice chairman of the Law Committee of the 12th NPC.

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Operators cannot use technical means to influence Internet users' decisions or to disturb or sabotage products and services legally provided by other operators, said the draft.

The banned online activities include misleading, cheating or forcing users to "modify, close or uninstall" competitors' products or services, the draft said.

It also includes products or services that are maliciously designed to be incompatible with other products or services, the draft noted.

The Unfair Competition Law took effect in 1993.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency