On 4 June 2025, the State Administration of Market Regulation (“SAMR”) together with the Cyberspace Administration of China, issued draft Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Trading Platform Rules (“Measures”) for comment through to 4 July 2025.
The Measures have 43 articles and nine chapters, including general provisions, the formulation, modification, and implementation of platform rules, information, network, and data security protection, protection of the rights and interests of operators and consumers on the platform, supervision and management system, and legal liability. It defines the platform rules as the service agreements and transaction rules that are prepared in advance by online trading platform operators (“platform operators”) to provide services to unspecified operators and consumers on the platform (“platform users”) and to manage the transaction-related activities of relevant parties on the platform for all parties to comply with, including online trading platform service agreements, transaction rules between operators on the platform (“operators”) and consumers on the platform (“consumers”), and transaction dispute handling rules on the platform. Violators of the Measures may be fined between RMB 10,000 and RMB 100,000 (equivalent to US$ 1,392 to 13,920).
The Measures apply to formulating, modifying, and implementing the platform rules in China. It stipulates that the obligations of the platform operators include publicizing platform rules, drawing the attention of the platform users to important clauses in platform rules, and setting up convenient search and browsing functions. Meanwhile, the platform operators shall publicly solicit opinions from the platform users when formulating or modifying platform rules, make them public at least seven days before implementation, and allow the platform users who do not accept the new rules to withdraw unconditionally. In addition, a reasonable transition period shall be set for formulating or modifying platform rules involving important rights and interests. After the platform rules are modified, all complete historical versions within three years before the modification shall be fully preserved.
In terms of the enforcement of platform rules, the Measures stipulate that when the platform operators take measures that hurt the rights and interests of the platform users, they should inform them of the specific measures and legal basis they have taken, respond to their complaints promptly, and shall not impose any restrictions on their right to appeal. Secondly, it requires that the burden of proof for each party should be set fairly, and relevant personnel who enforce platform rules must receive professional training.
Regarding information, network, and data security protection, the Measures stipulate that platform rules should clearly state that all information including goods and services, transaction information, and comment information on the platform shall not involve any production, copying, publishing and dissemination of illegal information; clarify the norms for the operators to handle personal information and their obligation to protect personal information; set network and data security clauses to prohibit the use of platform rules to engage in illegal activities such as illegally processing users’ network data and restricting their network data rights without legitimate reasons. For online trading platforms involving huge amounts of minor user data or having a significant impact on minors, the Measures require the formulation of special platform rules to clarify the operator's obligation to protect minors and remind them their relevant rights and remedies for infringement.
Moreover, the Measures set out special protection clauses for the rights of the platform users. For the operators, the Measures prohibit unreasonable restrictions on their business activities or unjustified conditions, such as forcing them to bear the responsibility of “refund without return”, opening non-essential value-added services or participating in promotional activities; prohibiting unreasonable fees, including repeated charges, charging without service or less service, price discrimination, etc.; standardizing the amount and calculation standard of liquidated damages. For the consumers, the Measures prohibit platform rules from unreasonably increasing their responsibilities, reducing or exempting the platform operators from responsibilities, excluding or restricting their rights; setting different prices or charging standards for the same product or service; and charging additional fees by unilaterally modifying platform rules during the agreed service period.
In conclusion, the Measures clarify the legal obligations of the platform operators in terms of platform rules and specify the provisions that they should abide by when formulating, revising, and implementing platform rules. This will help maintain market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the platform users.
The Measures have 43 articles and nine chapters, including general provisions, the formulation, modification, and implementation of platform rules, information, network, and data security protection, protection of the rights and interests of operators and consumers on the platform, supervision and management system, and legal liability. It defines the platform rules as the service agreements and transaction rules that are prepared in advance by online trading platform operators (“platform operators”) to provide services to unspecified operators and consumers on the platform (“platform users”) and to manage the transaction-related activities of relevant parties on the platform for all parties to comply with, including online trading platform service agreements, transaction rules between operators on the platform (“operators”) and consumers on the platform (“consumers”), and transaction dispute handling rules on the platform. Violators of the Measures may be fined between RMB 10,000 and RMB 100,000 (equivalent to US$ 1,392 to 13,920).
The Measures apply to formulating, modifying, and implementing the platform rules in China. It stipulates that the obligations of the platform operators include publicizing platform rules, drawing the attention of the platform users to important clauses in platform rules, and setting up convenient search and browsing functions. Meanwhile, the platform operators shall publicly solicit opinions from the platform users when formulating or modifying platform rules, make them public at least seven days before implementation, and allow the platform users who do not accept the new rules to withdraw unconditionally. In addition, a reasonable transition period shall be set for formulating or modifying platform rules involving important rights and interests. After the platform rules are modified, all complete historical versions within three years before the modification shall be fully preserved.
In terms of the enforcement of platform rules, the Measures stipulate that when the platform operators take measures that hurt the rights and interests of the platform users, they should inform them of the specific measures and legal basis they have taken, respond to their complaints promptly, and shall not impose any restrictions on their right to appeal. Secondly, it requires that the burden of proof for each party should be set fairly, and relevant personnel who enforce platform rules must receive professional training.
Regarding information, network, and data security protection, the Measures stipulate that platform rules should clearly state that all information including goods and services, transaction information, and comment information on the platform shall not involve any production, copying, publishing and dissemination of illegal information; clarify the norms for the operators to handle personal information and their obligation to protect personal information; set network and data security clauses to prohibit the use of platform rules to engage in illegal activities such as illegally processing users’ network data and restricting their network data rights without legitimate reasons. For online trading platforms involving huge amounts of minor user data or having a significant impact on minors, the Measures require the formulation of special platform rules to clarify the operator's obligation to protect minors and remind them their relevant rights and remedies for infringement.
Moreover, the Measures set out special protection clauses for the rights of the platform users. For the operators, the Measures prohibit unreasonable restrictions on their business activities or unjustified conditions, such as forcing them to bear the responsibility of “refund without return”, opening non-essential value-added services or participating in promotional activities; prohibiting unreasonable fees, including repeated charges, charging without service or less service, price discrimination, etc.; standardizing the amount and calculation standard of liquidated damages. For the consumers, the Measures prohibit platform rules from unreasonably increasing their responsibilities, reducing or exempting the platform operators from responsibilities, excluding or restricting their rights; setting different prices or charging standards for the same product or service; and charging additional fees by unilaterally modifying platform rules during the agreed service period.
In conclusion, the Measures clarify the legal obligations of the platform operators in terms of platform rules and specify the provisions that they should abide by when formulating, revising, and implementing platform rules. This will help maintain market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the platform users.