Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Sustainable Development of the Platform Economy

Promulgation Date: 2021-12-24
Title: 国家发展改革委等部门关于推动平台经济规范健康持续发展的若干意见
Document Number:发改高技〔2021〕1872号
Expiration date: 
Promulgating Entities:国家发展和改革委员会 国家市场监督管理总局 工业和信息化部等
Source of text: https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202201/t20220119_1312326.html?code=&state=123

To the relevant departments of each province, autonomous region, directly-governed municipality, and of the Xinjiang production and construction corps:

The platform economy is a new economic form that has Internet platforms as its primary medium, data as a key production factor, new-generation information technology as its core driving force, and network information infrastructure as an important support.. In recent years, our country's platform economy has developed rapidly, and its status and role in the overall economic and social development is increasingly prominent. With Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as guidance, comprehensively implementing the spirit of the 19th Party Congress and its plenary sessions, and thoroughly implementing the major decisions and allocations of the Party Central Committee and State Council; we will implement new developmental concepts and build new developmental structures rooted in the new phase of development, and promote high-quality development beginning with the strategy of building the nation's competitive advantages, persisting in giving equal emphasis to development and regulation, upholding the "two steadfasts" [support of state and private enterprise see glossary], following market rules, focusing on the long-term but taking out of the present situation, fixing shortcomings and strengthening weak points, to establish and complete a system of rules suited to the development of the platform economy and optimize the environment for the development of the platform economy. These Opinions are hereby issued to further promote the regulation of the healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy.

1. Complete and improve rules and regulations

(1) Improve governance rules.

Revise the Anti-Monopoly Law and improve the rules related to the Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law. Draft and put forward provisions prohibiting unfair competition online. Refine the rules for data handling by platform enterprises. Draft and put forward rules on pricing in the platform economy sector to promote the orderly and healthy development of the industry. Improve the regulatory rules system for the financial sector, insisting that all financial activities are included in financial regulation and that financial businesses must be licensed to operate.

(2) Complete systemic regulation.

Clarify the boundaries of platform responsibility and enhance the responsibility of very large-scale Internet platforms. Establish a platform compliance management system, with effective external supervision and appraisal systems for platform compliance. Increase the extent of development of national standards related to the platform economy. Establish an Internet platform information disclosure system, enhancing the transparency of platform operations, and strengthening credit constraints and societal oversight. Establish and complete systems for the regulation of fair competition in the platform economy Improve the regulatory system for cross-border data flow using 'hierarchical and categorical management + negative lists", and explore the formulation of an algorithm security system for Internet information services.

(3) Promote Coordinated Governance.

Strengthen departmental coordination, adhering to the principle of "unified regulation online and off", with every department bearing regulatory functions having a duty to perform corresponding online regulation when carrying out offline regulation, to bring about uniformity in approval, jurisdiction, and regulatory authority. Promote the mutual recognition of spot check and evaluation results between various regulatory departments, to avoid repetitive spot checks and testing, and explore the establishment of mechanisms for case consultation, joint law enforcement, and joint disciplinary action mechanism, to bring about ex-ante, ongoing, and ex-post regulation of the entire chain. Promote industry self-discipline, urging platform enterprises to operate in accordance with laws and rules, and encouraging industry associations to lead the way in drafting group standards and industry self-discipline conventions. Strengthen societal oversight, exploring collective participation in regulatory mechanisms by the public and third-party professional bodies, and promoting increased openness and transparency in platform enterprises' compliance.

II. Increase regulatory capacities and levels.

(4) Improve Competition Regulation and Law Enforcement.

Strengthen full-chain regulation and law enforcement of competition for key industries and sectors where there has been strong public feedback. Investigate and handle monopolies and acts of unfair competition in the platform economy sector. Strictly investigate and handle monopoly agreements, abuses of market dominance, the illegal concentration of operators in the platform economy sector. Enhance regulation of the platform's advertising orientation, strengthening regulation of advertisements in key sectors. Focus on regulating issues such as misleading consumers by reducing and degrading products, platforms failing to review the market access qualifications of products they sell, and implement an obligation for online businesses to recall obligation defective consumer products. Increase the force of the battle against illegal conduct by platform enterprises in the travel field. Strengthen platform enterprises' tax assistance obligations such as reporting tax-related information, strengthen tax regulation for platform enterprises, and lawfully investigate and address illegal conduct related to taxes such as issuing fake invoices and tax evasion. Strengthen the management and regulation of fees such as deposits, advance payments, and guarantee deposits.

(5) Strengthen regulation of the finance sector.

Strengthen regulation in the payments field, breaking improper links between payment tools and other finance products, lawfully correct acts of exclusion or 'either/or choices', strengthen regulation of conduct abusing dominant positions in the non-bank payment services market, and research and issue regulations on non-bank payment bodies. Standardize the use of platform data, strictly regulate credit reporting operations, and ensure they are licensed in accordance with law and comply with regulations. Implement regulatory systems for financial holding companies. strictly reviewing shareholder credentials, enhancing penetrating regulation, and strengthening comprehensive risk management and the management of related-party transactions. Strictly regulate platform enterprises' investments in financial institutions and local financial organizations, and urge platform enterprises and the financial institutions in which they hold shares or have a controlling interest in to strictly implement capital and leverage ratio requirements. Improve mechanisms for financial consumer protection, strengthening regulation of marketing, ensuring that disclosed information is truthful and accurate, and prohibiting the enticements to spend excessively.

(6) Explore regulations for data and algorithms.

Truly implement the principles of legality, propriety, and necessity in the collection and use of personal information, strictly combating illegal acts by platform enterprises such as collecting personal data beyond their scope or using personal information beyond their authority. Strictly control the unnecessary collection of data, combatting conduct that abuses data such as black market data transactions and big data bleeding [use of consumer information to improperly change prices], in accordance with laws and regulations, While strictly protecting commercial secrets such as in algorithms, support third-party institutions in carrying out algorithm assessments, leading platform enterprises to increase the transparency and understandability of algorithms, to promote the fairness of algorithms. Strictly investigate and address the use of algorithms to conduct in violation of laws and regulations such as falsifying information content, transmitting harmful negative information or vulgar and base content, traffic hijacking, and the registration of fake accounts. Urge platform enterprises to thoroughly implement the multi-level cybersecurity protection system, explore the development of monitoring reports on data risk status, and establish emergency response mechanisms. In law enforcement activities, state organs should collect and use personal information in accordance with law, and protect data security.

(7) Improve regulatory techniques and tactics.

Strengthen digitalized support or regulation, establish non-contact regulatory mechanisms such as for the discovery, circulation, investigation, and handling of leads on illegal conduct, increase regulatory capacity such as for monitoring and early warnings, online law enforcement, and information disclosures, and support areas that are ready in carrying of innovative pilots on digitalized regulation. Strengthen and improve credit regulation, enhancing the management of lists of those with serious unlawful and untrustworthy conduct in the platform economy sector. Give play to the role of industry associations in leading internet enterprises to mutually exchange, connect, and recognize the lists of those with serious illegal and untrustworthy conduct and other credit appraisals, to promote their joint prevention and control of illegal activities by online businesses.

III. Optimizing the Developmental Environment

(8） Lowering business costs for participants in the platform economy.

Continue to promote the facilitation and standardization of registering market entities related to the platform economy, and support provincial people's governments in coordinating and carrying out the pilot program of separate registration of domiciles and business premises in accordance with relevant requirements. Further clear up and standardize local rules and regulations on entering the platform economy that have no legal basis or that expand powers without authorization. Improve the directory of internet market access prohibitions and permits. Guide platform enterprises to reasonably set service fees such as for payment and settlement and platform commissions, giving traffic support to exceptional small and micro-scale merchants. Platform service charges should correspond to the quality and price and be fair and reasonable, they should be negotiated with and fully communicated to businesses on the platform, and the order of fair competition should not be compromised.

(9) Establish an orderly and open platform ecology.

Promote cooperation between platform enterprises, building an ecosphere that is compatible and open, stimulating the vitality of platform enterprises, and fostering new momentum for the development of the platform economy. To advocate fair competition, inclusive development, and open innovation, platforms should orderly advance the opening of the ecology in accordance with laws and regulations, fairly provide services in accordance with unified rules, and must not be maliciously incompatible, or set unreasonable procedural requirements. Platform operators must not use advantages in data, traffic, technology, market, or capital to limit the independent operation of other platforms and applications. Promote the formulation of system migration and interconnection standards between cloud platforms, to accelerate interconnectivity for business and data.

(10) Strengthen safeguards for workers' rights and interests in new forms of employment.

Implement policy measures for new forms of employment such as deliveries and rides booked online. Improve the standards for identifying labor relationships between workers in new forms of employment, platform enterprises, cooperative enterprise employers; and explore clarifying the standards for situations that do not fully meet the requirements for the establishment of a labor relationship, reasonably determining the rights and obligations of the enterprises and workers. Guide platform enterprises to strengthen negotiation with workers in new forms of employment, and reasonably formulate and publish systems and algorithm rules that directly involve workers' rights and interests such as for the distribution of orders, calculating the unit price for piecework, commission rates, to ensure that the systems and rules are open and transparent. Complete systems for minimum wage and payment guarantees, ensuring that workers in new forms of employment receive reasonable compensation for labor. Carry out a pilot program of occupational injury protections for people with flexible employment through platforms, and explore mechanisms such as the purchase of commercial insurance by employers. Implement a universal participation plan to promote the participation of workers in new forms of employment in social insurance. Strengthen training on awareness of security and law for workers in new forms of employment.

IV. Enhance Capacity for Innovation and Development

(11) Support platforms in strengthening technological innovation.

Guide platform enterprises to give further play to the market and data advantages of platforms, actively developing technical innovation and increasing core competitiveness. 鼓励平台企业不断提高研发投入强度，加快人工智能、云计算、区块链、操作系统、处理器等领域的技术研发突破。 鼓励平台企业加快数字化绿色化融合技术创新研发和应用，助推构建零碳产业链和供应链。 营造良好技术创新政策环境，进一步健全适应平台企业创新发展的知识产权保护制度。 支持有实力的龙头企业或平台企业牵头组建创新联合体，围绕工业互联网底层架构、工业软件根技术、人工智能开放创新、公共算法集、区块链底层技术等领域，推进关键软件技术攻关。

（十二）提升全球化发展水平。

支持平台企业推动数字产品与服务“走出去”，增强国际化发展能力，提升国际竞争力。 积极参与跨境数据流动、数字经济税收等相关国际规则制定，参与反垄断、反不正当竞争国际协调，充分发挥自由贸易试验区、自由贸易港先行先试作用，推动构建互利共赢的国际经贸规则，为平台企业国际化发展营造良好环境。 培育知识产权、商事协调、法律顾问等专业化中介服务，试点探索便捷的司法协调、投资保护和救济机制，强化海外知识产权风险预警、维权援助、纠纷调解等工作机制，保护我国平台企业和经营者在海外的合法权益。 鼓励平台企业发展跨境电商，积极推动海外仓建设，提升数字化、智能化、便利化水平，推动中小企业依托跨境电商平台拓展国际市场。 积极推动境外经贸合作区建设，培育仓储、物流、支付、通关、结汇等跨境电商产业链和生态圈。

（十三）鼓励平台企业开展模式创新。

鼓励平台企业在依法依规前提下，充分利用技术、人才、资金、渠道、数据等方面优势，发挥创新引领的关键作用，推动“互联网+”向更大范围、更深层次、更高效率方向发展。 鼓励基于平台的要素融合创新，加强行业数据采集、分析挖掘、综合利用，试点推进重点行业数据要素市场化进程，发挥数据要素对土地、劳动、资本等其他生产要素的放大、叠加、倍增作用。 试点探索“所有权与使用权分离”的资源共享新模式，盘活云平台、开发工具、车间厂房等方面闲置资源，培育共享经济新业态。 鼓励平台企业开展创新业务众包，更多向中小企业开放和共享资源。

五、赋能经济转型发展

（十四）赋能制造业转型升级。

支持平台企业依托市场、数据优势，赋能生产制造环节，发展按需生产、以销定产、个性化定制等新型制造模式。 鼓励平台企业加强与行业龙头企业合作，提升企业一体化数字化生产运营能力，推进供应链数字化、智能化升级，带动传统行业整体数字化转型。 探索推动平台企业与产业集群合作，补齐区域产业转型发展短板，推动提升区域产业竞争力。 引导平台企业积极参与工业互联网创新发展工程，开展关键技术攻关、公共平台培育，推动构建多层次、系统化的工业互联网平台体系。 深入实施普惠性“上云用数赋智”行动，支持中小企业从数据上云逐步向管理上云、业务上云升级。 实施中小企业数字化赋能专项行动，鼓励推广传统产业数字化、绿色化、智能化优秀实践。

（十五）推动农业数字化转型。

鼓励平台企业创新发展智慧农业，推动种植业、畜牧业、渔业等领域数字化，提升农业生产、加工、销售、物流等产业链各环节数字化水平，健全农产品质量追溯体系，以品牌化、可追溯化助力实现农产品优质优价。 规范平台企业农产品和农资交易行为，采购、销售的农产品、农兽药残留不得超标，不采购、销售质量不合格农资，切实保障产品质量安全，支持有机认证农产品采购、销售。 引导平台企业在农村布局，加快农村电子商务发展，推进“互联网+”农产品出村进城。 进一步引导平台经济赋能“三农”发展，加快推动农村信用信息体系建设，以数字化手段创新金融支持农业农村方式，培育全面推进乡村振兴新动能。

（十六）提升平台消费创造能力。

鼓励平台企业拓展“互联网+”消费场景，提供高质量产品和服务，促进智能家居、虚拟现实、超高清视频终端等智能产品普及应用，发展智能导购、智能补货、虚拟化体验等新兴零售方式，推动远程医疗、网上办公、知识分享等应用。 引导平台企业开展品牌消费、品质消费等网上促销活动，培育消费新增长点。 鼓励平台企业助力优化公共服务，提升医疗、社保、就业等服务领域的普惠化、便捷化、个性化水平。 鼓励平台企业提供无障碍服务，增强老年人、残疾人等特殊群体享受智能化产品和服务的便捷性。 引导平台企业开展数字帮扶，促进数字技术和数字素养提升。

VI. Safeguard Measures

（十七）加强统筹协调。

充分依托已有机制，强化部门协同、央地联动，加强对平台经济领域重大问题的协同研判。 加强监管行动、政策的统筹协调，充分听取各方意见，尤其是行政相对人意见，避免影响、中断平台企业正常经营活动，防范政策叠加导致非预期风险。 强化中央统筹、省负总责、地方落实属地管理责任，坚持责任划分、评估考评与追责问责有机统一。

（十八）强化政策保障。

鼓励创业投资、股权投资（基金）等加大投入科技创新领域，支持企业科技创新。 鼓励依托各类高等学校、职业院校和研究机构加强对数字经济高端人才、实用人才的培养。 加强全民数字技能教育和培训。 各地要积极推进平台经济发展，健全推进平台经济发展的政策体系，及时研究解决平台经济发展中的重大问题。

（十九）开展试点探索。

依托国家数字经济创新发展试验区、全面创新改革试验区、国家智能社会治理实验基地、全国网络市场监管与服务示范区、国家电子商务示范基地、自由贸易示范区、自由贸易港等，探索建立适应平台经济发展的监管模式，构建与平台经济创新发展相适应的制度环境。

National Development and Reform Commission

State Administration for Market Regulation

Cyberspace Administration of China

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

农 业 农 村 部

商  务  部

人 民 银 行

税 务 总 局

2021年12月24日