Recently, the Bureau of Price Supervision and Anti-monopoly of the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") has issued the Guidelines for Price-related Acts of Industry Associations (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public comments before April 24, 2017.
The Draft for Comment mainly applies to four types of price related activities carried out by industry associations, such as "activities to sell commodities and render paid services". Industry associations shall stick to the principle of legality, voluntariness and equality when selling goods or providing paid services within their registered business scope, but shall neither request members or other operators and consumers by force to accept the commodities or services they provide, nor make the membership entities' entitlement to other member rights conditioned by their willingness to purchase the above-said commodities and accept such services. Besides, the Draft for Comment regulates various acts of industry associations, clearly stating that the industry associations shall support enterprises to develop the international market, take part in the conciliation for price-related disputes, disclose information on price to the members or enterprises belonging to the industry, etc. Meanwhile, industry associations are prohibited to eliminate or restrict competition, disturb the order of market prices, or abuse their administrative functions over certain industries.