Lately, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft Amendments) (the "Draft Amendments") has been deliberated at the 26th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress and issued for public comments before March 25, 2017.
The Draft Amendments mainly involve contents in four aspects as follows. The first is giving an accurate definition to the unfair competition act and adding the catch-all provision for identifying such act. The second is supplementing and improving the range of unfair competition acts that shall be prohibited, adding a provision that any operator shall not bribe a third party which is likely to affect the transaction, making particular stipulations over commercial briberies committed by employees, intensifying protection over commercial secrets, and introducing articles for Internet-related unfair competition acts. The third is straightening out the relation with applicable legal systems, an effort to maintain the harmonization and consistency among different legal provisions. The fourth is improving the legal liability system under which the civil liability for compensation is prioritized and parallelized with administrative penalties, adding credit discipline against violators, supplementing administrative coercive measures, and developing a mechanism for public reporting.