Provisions on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements (Amended in 2025)
Provisions on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements (Amended in 2025)
Provisions on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements (Amended in 2025)
Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 111
December 9, 2025
(Issued by Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 65 on March 10, 2023, and amended by Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 111 on December 9, 2025)
Article 1 These Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Anti-Monopoly Law") to prevent and curb monopoly agreements.
Article 2 The State Administration for Market Regulation (the "SAMR") is in charge of centralized anti-monopoly law enforcement related to monopoly agreements.
The SAMR authorizes, under the second paragraph of Article 13 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, the market regulatory authority of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government (the "provincial market regulatory authority") to be in charge of the anti-monopoly law enforcement related to monopoly agreements within its own administrative jurisdiction.
For the purposes of these Provisions, the term “anti-monopoly law enforcement agency” include the SAMR and provincial market regulatory authorities (the “Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency”).
Article 3 The SAMR is in charge of investigating and punishing the following monopoly agreements:
(1) agreements executed across provincial-level jurisdictions, including provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
(2) agreements involving circumstances that are more complicated or have significant impact nationwide; and
(3) agreements that the SAMR consider necessary to directly investigate and punish.
For an monopoly agreement listed in the preceding paragraph, the SAMR may designate a provincial market regulatory authority to investigate and punish it.
If, when investigating or punishing a monopoly agreement as authorized, a provincial market regulatory authority finds that such agreement is outside the scope of its purview or within the scope of its purview but necessary for the SAMR to investigate and punish it, the provincial market regulatory authority shall promptly report the situation to the SAMR.
Article 4 The Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency shall treat all business operators equally when investigating and punishing monopoly agreements.
Article 5 A monopoly agreement refers to any agreement, decision, or other concerted action to exclude or restrict competition.
An agreement or decision can be in written, oral, or other forms.
Other concerted action refers to any coordinated and uniform action substantially existing between business operators, even without any clear agreement or decision.
Article 6 To identify other coordinated action, the following factors shall be considered:
(1) whether there is uniformity of market action between the business operators;
(2) whether there is any communication of intent or exchange of information between the business operators;
(3) whether the business operators can reasonably explain the uniformity of their action; and
(4) the market structure, competition status, market changes, and other situations of the relevant market.
Article 7 Relevant market refers to a product or geographic scope in which business operators compete regarding a particular product or service (hereinafter collectively referred to as “product”) over a certain period of time, which includes both relevant product market and relevant geographic market.
To define a relevant market, a demand substitutability analysis shall be performed from the perspective of the demanders. Supply substitutability shall also be considered if the competitive constraints generated by supply substitutability on the action of business operators are similar to those generated by demand substitutability.
To define a relevant product market, from the perspective of demand substitutability, factors such as the response of the demanders to changes in product prices, and the characteristics, uses and sales channels of the product, may be considered, and from the perspective of supply substitutability, factors such as the degree of difficulty for other business operators to switch production and the market competitiveness of the product provided after the switch in production may be considered.
To define a relevant product market in the field of the platform economy, the relevant product market may be defined based on a one-sided product market involved in the platform, or based on the multi-sided product market involved in the platform, so that the platform as a whole may be defined as one relevant product market, or multiple relevant product markets may be defined separately while taking into account the mutual relationships and influences among them.
To define a relevant geographic market, from the perspective of demand substitutability, factors such as the characteristics of transportation and cost of the product, as well as any trade barrier with the actual area or region where a majority of demanders choose to buy the product, may be considered; and from the perspective of supply substitutability, factors such as the timeliness and feasibility of supplying the product by business operators in other geographic areas may be considered.
Article 8 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to fix or alter the price of a product:
(1) any agreement to fix or alter the price level, range of price fluctuations, or profit level, or the discounts, handling fees, or other fees;
(2) any agreement to adopt a standard formula, algorithm, platform rule, etc., for calculating prices;
(3) any agreement that restricts the right of the business operators participating in the agreement to set their own prices; and
(4) any agreement to otherwise fix or alter prices.
The term “business operators in competition with each other” include actual business operators who compete in the same relevant market, as well as potential business operators who may enter that relevant market to compete.
Article 8 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to limit the production volume or selling quantity of a product:
(1) any agreement to limit the production quantity of a product by such means as limiting or fixing the amount to be produced or stopping production, or to limit the production quantity of a particular variety or model of a product;
(2) any agreement to limit the selling quantity of a product by such means as limiting the quantity of the product on the market, or to limit the selling quantity of a particular variety or model of the product; or
(3) any agreement to otherwise limit the production quantity or selling quantity of a product.
Article 9 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to divide a sales market or a procurement market for a raw material:
(1) any agreement to divide any sales territories, market shares, sales targets, sales revenues, or sales profits of a product, or the selling categories, quantity, and time of a product;
(2) any agreement to divide any procuring territories, categories, quantity or time, or the suppliers of a raw materials such as a crude material, semi-finished product, component, or related equipment; or
(3) any agreement to otherwise divide a sales market or the procurement market for a raw material.
The preceding paragraph on the division of a sales market or a procurement market for a raw material also applies to the sales and procurement of data, technology, and services.
Article 11 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to restrict the purchase of any new technology or equipment or the development of any new technology or product:
(1) any agreement to restrict the purchase or use of any new technology or technique;
(2) any agreement to restrict the purchase, lease, or use of any new equipment or product;
(3) any agreement to restrict the investment in, research, or development of any new technology, technique, or product;
(4) any agreement to reject the use of any new technology, technique, equipment, or product; or
(5) any agreement to otherwise restrict the purchase of any new technology or equipment, or the development of any new technology or product.
Article 12 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to jointly boycott transactions:
(1) any agreement to jointly boycott the supply or sale of a product to any particular business operator;
(2) any agreement to jointly boycott the purchase of a product from, or sale of a product to, any particular business operator;
(3) any agreement to jointly restrict any particular business operator from transacting with business operators who are in competition with them; or
(4) any agreement to otherwise jointly boycott transactions.
Article 13 Business operators in competition with each other must not exploit any data, algorithms, technologies, platform rules, etc., to enter into a monopoly agreement specified in Articles 8 through 12 of these Provisions by means such as any communication of intent, exchange of sensitive information, or concerted action.
Article 14 A business operator is prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements with a trading counterparty regarding the price of a product:
(1) any agreement to fix the price level, range of price fluctuations, or profit level, or the discounts, handling fees, or other fees for the resale of a product to a third party;
(2) any agreement to limit the minimum price for the resale of a product to a third party, or to limit the minimum price for the resale of a product to a third party by such means as limiting the range of price fluctuations, profit level, discounts, handling fees, or other fees; or
(3) any agreement to otherwise fix the resale price or limit the minimum resale price of the product.
An agreement specified in the preceding paragraph is not prohibited if the business operators can prove that the agreement does not have the effect of excluding or restricting competition.
Article 15 A business operator must not enter into a monopoly agreement specified in Article 14 of these Provisions by exploiting any data, algorithms, technologies, platform rules, etc., to unify, limit, or automatically set the resale price of a product.
Article 16 In the case of agreements, decisions or coordinated actions other than those listed in Articles 7 through 12 of these Provisions, if there is evidence proving that they exclude or restrict competition, they shall be determined to be monopoly agreements and prohibited.
A monopoly agreement described in the preceding paragraph shall be determined by the SAMR by considering the following factors:
(1) the fact that the business operators has entered into or implemented the agreement;
(2) market competition status;
(3) the market share of the business operators in the relevant market and their control over the market;
(4) the impact of the agreement on the price, quantity, and quality of the product concerned;
(5) the impact of the agreement on market entry, technological progress, etc.;
(6) the impact of the agreement on consumers and other business operators; and
(7) other factors related to the determination of a monopoly agreement.
Article 17 Where a business operator claims that an agreement it has entered into with a trading counterparty, as referred to in Item (1) or (2) of the first paragraph of Article 18 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, is subject to the third paragraph of that Article, it shall prove that, during the term of the agreement, the following criteria are satisfied:
(1) the market share of both the business operator and the trading counterparty in the relevant market is below 5% in each year; and
(2) the annual revenue of the goods involved in the agreement between the business operator and the trading counterparty is below CNY 100 million in each year.
Where a business operator claims that an agreement it has entered into with a trading counterparty, as referred to in Item (3) of the first paragraph of Article 18 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, is subject to the third paragraph of that Article, it shall prove that, during the term of the agreement, the market share of both the business operator and the trading counterparty in the relevant market is below 15% in each year.
Where there are multiple trading counterparties, their market shares in the same relevant market and the revenue of the goods involved in the agreement shall be calculated on an aggregated basis.
Where the SAMR has otherwise provided for the application of the third paragraph of Article 18 of the Anti-Monopoly Law to specific industries, fields, or types of agreements, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 18 Where a business operator claims that the agreement under investigation meets the criteria set out in the first and second paragraphs of Article 17 of these Provisions, it shall submit an application to the Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency and provide the following materials:
(1) information on the conclusion and implementation of the agreement between the business operator and the trading counterparty;
(2) the respective shareholding structures and control relationships of the business operator and the trading counterparty, as well as their business conditions in the relevant market;
(3) the respective market shares of the business operator and the trading counterparty in the relevant market for each year during the term of the agreement, and the revenue of the goods involved in the agreement, together with the basis for calculation; and
(4) other materials that can prove that the agreement under investigation meets the criteria set out in the first and second paragraphs of Article 17 of these Provisions.
Article 19 Where, after verifying the application materials submitted by a business operator, the Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency determines that the agreement meets the criteria set out in Article 17 of these Provisions, it shall decide not to place the case on file if no case has been filed, or shall terminate the investigation if a case has already been filed.
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Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 111
December 9, 2025
(Issued by Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 65 on March 10, 2023, and amended by Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 111 on December 9, 2025)
Article 1 These Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Anti-Monopoly Law") to prevent and curb monopoly agreements.
Article 2 The State Administration for Market Regulation (the "SAMR") is in charge of centralized anti-monopoly law enforcement related to monopoly agreements.
The SAMR authorizes, under the second paragraph of Article 13 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, the market regulatory authority of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government (the "provincial market regulatory authority") to be in charge of the anti-monopoly law enforcement related to monopoly agreements within its own administrative jurisdiction.
For the purposes of these Provisions, the term “anti-monopoly law enforcement agency” include the SAMR and provincial market regulatory authorities (the “Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency”).
Article 3 The SAMR is in charge of investigating and punishing the following monopoly agreements:
(1) agreements executed across provincial-level jurisdictions, including provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
(2) agreements involving circumstances that are more complicated or have significant impact nationwide; and
(3) agreements that the SAMR consider necessary to directly investigate and punish.
For an monopoly agreement listed in the preceding paragraph, the SAMR may designate a provincial market regulatory authority to investigate and punish it.
If, when investigating or punishing a monopoly agreement as authorized, a provincial market regulatory authority finds that such agreement is outside the scope of its purview or within the scope of its purview but necessary for the SAMR to investigate and punish it, the provincial market regulatory authority shall promptly report the situation to the SAMR.
Article 4 The Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency shall treat all business operators equally when investigating and punishing monopoly agreements.
Article 5 A monopoly agreement refers to any agreement, decision, or other concerted action to exclude or restrict competition.
An agreement or decision can be in written, oral, or other forms.
Other concerted action refers to any coordinated and uniform action substantially existing between business operators, even without any clear agreement or decision.
Article 6 To identify other coordinated action, the following factors shall be considered:
(1) whether there is uniformity of market action between the business operators;
(2) whether there is any communication of intent or exchange of information between the business operators;
(3) whether the business operators can reasonably explain the uniformity of their action; and
(4) the market structure, competition status, market changes, and other situations of the relevant market.
Article 7 Relevant market refers to a product or geographic scope in which business operators compete regarding a particular product or service (hereinafter collectively referred to as “product”) over a certain period of time, which includes both relevant product market and relevant geographic market.
To define a relevant market, a demand substitutability analysis shall be performed from the perspective of the demanders. Supply substitutability shall also be considered if the competitive constraints generated by supply substitutability on the action of business operators are similar to those generated by demand substitutability.
To define a relevant product market, from the perspective of demand substitutability, factors such as the response of the demanders to changes in product prices, and the characteristics, uses and sales channels of the product, may be considered, and from the perspective of supply substitutability, factors such as the degree of difficulty for other business operators to switch production and the market competitiveness of the product provided after the switch in production may be considered.
To define a relevant product market in the field of the platform economy, the relevant product market may be defined based on a one-sided product market involved in the platform, or based on the multi-sided product market involved in the platform, so that the platform as a whole may be defined as one relevant product market, or multiple relevant product markets may be defined separately while taking into account the mutual relationships and influences among them.
To define a relevant geographic market, from the perspective of demand substitutability, factors such as the characteristics of transportation and cost of the product, as well as any trade barrier with the actual area or region where a majority of demanders choose to buy the product, may be considered; and from the perspective of supply substitutability, factors such as the timeliness and feasibility of supplying the product by business operators in other geographic areas may be considered.
Article 8 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to fix or alter the price of a product:
(1) any agreement to fix or alter the price level, range of price fluctuations, or profit level, or the discounts, handling fees, or other fees;
(2) any agreement to adopt a standard formula, algorithm, platform rule, etc., for calculating prices;
(3) any agreement that restricts the right of the business operators participating in the agreement to set their own prices; and
(4) any agreement to otherwise fix or alter prices.
The term “business operators in competition with each other” include actual business operators who compete in the same relevant market, as well as potential business operators who may enter that relevant market to compete.
Article 8 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to limit the production volume or selling quantity of a product:
(1) any agreement to limit the production quantity of a product by such means as limiting or fixing the amount to be produced or stopping production, or to limit the production quantity of a particular variety or model of a product;
(2) any agreement to limit the selling quantity of a product by such means as limiting the quantity of the product on the market, or to limit the selling quantity of a particular variety or model of the product; or
(3) any agreement to otherwise limit the production quantity or selling quantity of a product.
Article 9 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to divide a sales market or a procurement market for a raw material:
(1) any agreement to divide any sales territories, market shares, sales targets, sales revenues, or sales profits of a product, or the selling categories, quantity, and time of a product;
(2) any agreement to divide any procuring territories, categories, quantity or time, or the suppliers of a raw materials such as a crude material, semi-finished product, component, or related equipment; or
(3) any agreement to otherwise divide a sales market or the procurement market for a raw material.
The preceding paragraph on the division of a sales market or a procurement market for a raw material also applies to the sales and procurement of data, technology, and services.
Article 11 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to restrict the purchase of any new technology or equipment or the development of any new technology or product:
(1) any agreement to restrict the purchase or use of any new technology or technique;
(2) any agreement to restrict the purchase, lease, or use of any new equipment or product;
(3) any agreement to restrict the investment in, research, or development of any new technology, technique, or product;
(4) any agreement to reject the use of any new technology, technique, equipment, or product; or
(5) any agreement to otherwise restrict the purchase of any new technology or equipment, or the development of any new technology or product.
Article 12 Business operators in competition with each other are prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements to jointly boycott transactions:
(1) any agreement to jointly boycott the supply or sale of a product to any particular business operator;
(2) any agreement to jointly boycott the purchase of a product from, or sale of a product to, any particular business operator;
(3) any agreement to jointly restrict any particular business operator from transacting with business operators who are in competition with them; or
(4) any agreement to otherwise jointly boycott transactions.
Article 13 Business operators in competition with each other must not exploit any data, algorithms, technologies, platform rules, etc., to enter into a monopoly agreement specified in Articles 8 through 12 of these Provisions by means such as any communication of intent, exchange of sensitive information, or concerted action.
Article 14 A business operator is prohibited from entering into the following monopoly agreements with a trading counterparty regarding the price of a product:
(1) any agreement to fix the price level, range of price fluctuations, or profit level, or the discounts, handling fees, or other fees for the resale of a product to a third party;
(2) any agreement to limit the minimum price for the resale of a product to a third party, or to limit the minimum price for the resale of a product to a third party by such means as limiting the range of price fluctuations, profit level, discounts, handling fees, or other fees; or
(3) any agreement to otherwise fix the resale price or limit the minimum resale price of the product.
An agreement specified in the preceding paragraph is not prohibited if the business operators can prove that the agreement does not have the effect of excluding or restricting competition.
Article 15 A business operator must not enter into a monopoly agreement specified in Article 14 of these Provisions by exploiting any data, algorithms, technologies, platform rules, etc., to unify, limit, or automatically set the resale price of a product.
Article 16 In the case of agreements, decisions or coordinated actions other than those listed in Articles 7 through 12 of these Provisions, if there is evidence proving that they exclude or restrict competition, they shall be determined to be monopoly agreements and prohibited.
A monopoly agreement described in the preceding paragraph shall be determined by the SAMR by considering the following factors:
(1) the fact that the business operators has entered into or implemented the agreement;
(2) market competition status;
(3) the market share of the business operators in the relevant market and their control over the market;
(4) the impact of the agreement on the price, quantity, and quality of the product concerned;
(5) the impact of the agreement on market entry, technological progress, etc.;
(6) the impact of the agreement on consumers and other business operators; and
(7) other factors related to the determination of a monopoly agreement.
Article 17 Where a business operator claims that an agreement it has entered into with a trading counterparty, as referred to in Item (1) or (2) of the first paragraph of Article 18 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, is subject to the third paragraph of that Article, it shall prove that, during the term of the agreement, the following criteria are satisfied:
(1) the market share of both the business operator and the trading counterparty in the relevant market is below 5% in each year; and
(2) the annual revenue of the goods involved in the agreement between the business operator and the trading counterparty is below CNY 100 million in each year.
Where a business operator claims that an agreement it has entered into with a trading counterparty, as referred to in Item (3) of the first paragraph of Article 18 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, is subject to the third paragraph of that Article, it shall prove that, during the term of the agreement, the market share of both the business operator and the trading counterparty in the relevant market is below 15% in each year.
Where there are multiple trading counterparties, their market shares in the same relevant market and the revenue of the goods involved in the agreement shall be calculated on an aggregated basis.
Where the SAMR has otherwise provided for the application of the third paragraph of Article 18 of the Anti-Monopoly Law to specific industries, fields, or types of agreements, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 18 Where a business operator claims that the agreement under investigation meets the criteria set out in the first and second paragraphs of Article 17 of these Provisions, it shall submit an application to the Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency and provide the following materials:
(1) information on the conclusion and implementation of the agreement between the business operator and the trading counterparty;
(2) the respective shareholding structures and control relationships of the business operator and the trading counterparty, as well as their business conditions in the relevant market;
(3) the respective market shares of the business operator and the trading counterparty in the relevant market for each year during the term of the agreement, and the revenue of the goods involved in the agreement, together with the basis for calculation; and
(4) other materials that can prove that the agreement under investigation meets the criteria set out in the first and second paragraphs of Article 17 of these Provisions.
Article 19 Where, after verifying the application materials submitted by a business operator, the Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency determines that the agreement meets the criteria set out in Article 17 of these Provisions, it shall decide not to place the case on file if no case has been filed, or shall terminate the investigation if a case has already been filed.
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