CHINA'S TOP LEGISLATURE CLOSES BI-MONTHLY SESSION

2017-11-09    Chinadaily    673  

The Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) closed its bi-monthly session Saturday, adopting a new law on public libraries, revisions to 10 laws including the Standardizing Law and the Countering Unfair Competetion Law. Law

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) closed its bi-monthly session Saturday, adopting a new law on public libraries, revisions to 10 laws including the Standardizing Law and the Countering Unfair Competetion Law.
 
Law revision for updated, clearer standards
The top legislature adopted a revision to the standardization law, 28 years after it took effect.
 
The revised law clarifies what standards are compulsory and what are recommendations, expands the scope of standards from industrial products, construction and environmental protection to much broader sectors, including agriculture, industry, services and social programs.
 
Technical standards concerning health and life and property safety, as well as national and ecological security are prioritized.
 
The government is required to better exercise their duty of coordinating different standards to avoid overlapping and duplication and supervising implementation of standards.
 
Lawmakers also adopted the revision to the law against unfair competition, an amendment to the country's criminal law to punish acts of gravely disrespecting the national anthem, as well as minor amendments to several clauses of 11 laws that facilitate cutting red tape.
 
China revises law to protect fair competition
China's top legislature Saturday adopted a revision to its law against unfair competition. The revised law will come into force on Jan 1, 2018.
"The revision will better address new problems emerging in the market, and protect the rights and interests of both business operators and consumers," said Yang Heqing, an official of the NPC Standing Committee, at a news conference on Saturday.
 
"Proper online market competition is one of the highlights of the revision," said Yang Hongcan, director of the division of anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition law enforcement with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
 
The law states that e-commerce operators should neither deceive nor mislead consumers by faking sales volume or user comments.
 
"Operators shall not fabricate transactions to help others in commercial promotions," the revision says.
 
"Adopted before the world's biggest one-day online shopping festival which falls Nov 11, the law will better regulate online shopping and maintain a fair market order," he said.
 
The revision redefines unfair competition as that which "violates this law, disturbs market order or infringes on the rights and interests of other operators or consumers during production and operations."
 
It also states that industrial associations shall uphold market order through self-discipline and by guiding their members to compete in accordance with law.
 
Officials of supervision and inspection departments shall not disclose any commercial secrets of the entities they investigate, it said.