The State Administration for Market Regulation has drafted, and hereby public releases for comment, these Guidelines for Online Transaction Platforms' Compliance in Charging Fees (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) on the basis of the PRC Pricing Law, the PRC E-commerce Law, and other laws and regulations, in order to regulate the collection of fees in online transactions, protect the lawful rights and interests of proprietors, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the platform economy. The comment period runs through June 3, 2025, and the public may submit comments through the following channels and methods:
I. Register on the SAMR website: http://www.samr.gov.cn) and submit comments and recommendations through the “solicitation and surveys” option under the “interaction” column on the home page.
2. Send comments and suggestions by e-mail to: [email protected]with a subject line indicating “Guidelines for Online Transaction Platform Compliance in Charging Fees (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) "
3. Mail a letter to the Price Supervision and Competition Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation, No. 9 Madian East Road, Haidian District, Beijing (Zip Code: 100088), and please indicate "Guidelines for Online Transaction Platforms' Compliance in Charging Fees (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) " on the envelope.
Attachments: 1. Guidelines for Online Transaction Platforms' Compliance in Charging Fees (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)
2. Explanation of the drafting of the Guidelines for Online Transaction Platforms' Compliance in Charging Fees (Draft for Solicitation of Comments).
These guidelines are drafted on the basis of the PRC Pricing Law, the PRC E-commerce Law, and other laws and regulations, in order to regulate and guide online transaction platform businesses’ collection of fess, protect the lawful rights and interests of businesses, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the platform economy.
Article 1:“Online transaction platform businesses” (hereinafter “platforms”) as used in these Guidelines, refers to legal persons and unincorporated organizations that provide two or more parties to a transaction with services such as online business venues, deal-making, and information publication, so that the parties to the transaction can independently carry out online transaction activities.
“In-platform businesses” as used in these Guidelines refers to natural persons, legal persons, or unincorporated organizations that sell goods or provide services through online transaction platforms.
“Platform charges” as used in these Guidelines refers to the fees collected by platforms from in-platform businesses in the provision of services, including but not limited to forms such as commissions, brokerage fees, registration fees, handling fees, membership fees, technical service fees, information service fees, promotional marketing fees, or advertising fees. These Guidelines apply by reference to platforms’ collection of deposits.
Article 2:Based on the platforms’ own costs, and factors such as service agreements, transaction rules, and transaction custom, platforms are to comply with the principles of fairness, legality, and good faith, and fully consider the state of in-platform businesses’ business, to reasonably create standards for charges in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and rules.
Article 3:Platforms are encouraged to employ a flexible and diverse pricing strategy within the scope of legality, reasonableness, and mutual benefit, and based on the traits of their services formed by platforms’ own technical innovations and innovations in commerce models, to reduce the burden on in-platform businesses and promote the joint development of the platform and in-platform businesses.
Article 4:Platforms are encouraged to provide discounted services to in-platform businesses to increase the extent of preferential charging supports for small and mid-sized businesses, and support their survival and development.
Article 5: In situations such as the occurrence of a natural disaster or public health emergency, platforms are encouraged to proactively take on social responsibility and employ assistive policies such as reducing or waiving commissions or lowering standards for charges.
Article 6: Platforms shall implement primary responsibility for compliance management in accordance with relevant provisions, and include the compliance of charges in areas such as the establishment of internal compliance organizations, compliance management systems, compliance risk control and management, and compliance training, to increase capacity for compliance management on charges.
Article 7: Platforms shall strengthen the establishment of compliance management organizations for platform charges corresponding to their scale of business and operations model in accordance with relevant provisions, and appoint personnel who are familiar with compliance management for platform charges.
Article 8: Platforms shall promptly translate the requirements of laws, regulations, and regulatory provisions on platform charges into the platform’s internal compliance system.
Platforms shall establish dynamic update mechanisms to promptly revise and improve compliance management systems for platform charges based on changes in laws, regulations, and regulatory provisions, to ensure the adaptability and effectiveness of compliance systems.
Article 9: Platforms shall establish mechanisms for identifying and assessing risks of unreasonable charges based on the enterprise business environment, business traits, and in-platform businesses’ feedback, as well as issues exposed in public opinion, to promptly identify and address charging compliance risks in platform business activities.
Platforms are encouraged to use data technology to strengthen risk monitoring and analysis for unreasonable charges on the platform, increasing capacity to effectively identify platform risks of unreasonable charging.
Article 10: Platforms shall strengthen the establishment of ex-ante review mechanisms to prevent risks or unreasonable platform charges, and the platform’s internal compliance management organizations and personnel shall conduct reviews of the compliance of platform charges before releasing or revising charging rules, and before organizing the implementation of business activities involving platform charges.
Platforms are encouraged to embed the compliance review stage in their internal office information management systems and effectively ensure that the compliance management organizations or personnel independently carry out reviews.
Article 11: Platforms shall establish compliance training mechanisms for the prevention of risks of unreasonable charging and conduct training for related personnel, especially the platform enterprise’s relevant responsible persons, to increase awareness and capacity to prevent risks of unreasonable charges.
Article 12: Platforms are encouraged to create a culture and atmosphere of compliance in charging that is law-abiding, creditworthy, transparent, and just. Enhance the awareness of self-discipline in charging compliance among relevant personnel, especially the platform enterprises’ relevant responsible persons, to promote the platform’s healthy and sustainable development.
Article 13: Platforms are encouraged to establish reporting mechanisms for compliance in charging, or to include charging compliance matters in overall compliance reports. Platforms are encouraged to report on charging compliance to the market administration departments.
Article 14:Plaftforms shall continuously display the content of platform service agreements and transaction rules, such as the items, rules, and standards for platform charges, or display a link to such information, in a conspicous location on the homepage for in-platform businesses and other subjects of charges, to ensure the in-platform businesses and other subjects of charges can easily and completely read and download them.
The items for charges shall correspond to the content of services, and the same item for charges shall use a uniform name, description, and other factors. Charging rules shall be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Charging standards shall be clear, correct, and easy to calculate, and where different charging standards are implemented for different transaction requirements, the charging standards corresponding to transaction requirements shall be clearly indicated.
Where platforms collect fees from in-platform businesses based on the provision of services such as business venues, deal-making,and information publication, they shall provide the in-platform businesses with details of charges, such as the specific charged items, standards, and amounts.
Article 15:In revising the content of platform service agreements or transaction rules such as on the items, rules, or standards for charges, platforms shall publicly solicit comments in a conspicuous location on their home page, display the content and the reasons for the proposed change, and employ reasonable measures to ensure that all relevant parties can promptly and fully express their opinions. The display period shall not be less than 7 days.
Where in-platform businesses do not accept the revised content and request to withdraw from the platform, the platform must not obstruct them, and the platform and in-platform businesses are to bear responsibility in accordance with the agreement prior to the revisions.
Article 16: In revising platform service agreement content such as the items, rules, or standards for charges, platforms shall completely save the full version from three years prior to the date on which the revised version takes effect, to ensure that in-platform businesses or other subjects of charges can easily and completely read or download them.
Article 17: Platforms carrying out publicity activities such as promotions and sales shall abide by the principles of fairness and voluntariness, and must not compell or indirectly compell in-platform businesses to participate and be charged.
Article 18: Platforms collecting marketing promotion fees shall clearly display the items, rules, and standards for those charges to ensure that in-platform businesses can correctly compare fees.
Where platforms use clicks, displays, or transformations in calculating the standards for marketing promotion fees, they shall display the method for calculating the fees in a clear and easily understood fashion and provide in-platform businesses with specific details.
Article 19: When platforms organize in-platform businesses to carry out discount promotional activities, they shall first clarify content such as the means and proportion for dividing the burden of the discount between the platform and in-platform businesses. They must not collect additional temporary promotional fees from in-platform businesses without having negotiated and reached a consensus with the in-platform businesses.
Article 20: Platforms shall strictly satisfy pledges made to in-platform businesses to reduce or waive fees.
Platforms that initially provide free services must not later change the rules to collect a fee without having publicly solicited comments in a conspicuous location on their home page in accordance with law, and alerted in-platform businesses to pay attention in a conspicuous fashion. Unless otherwise specified by laws and regulations.
Article 21: Platforms shall prudently assess the necessity of obtaining deposits from in-platform businesses on the basis of business needs and transaction risks. Deposits must not be collected where assessments find that the need is insufficient.
Platforms are encouraged to employ means such as businesses’ credit pledges to ensure that consumers’ rights and interests are protected while also reducing the financial burden on in-platform businesses in giving a deposit.
Article 22: Where deposits are collected from in-platform businesses based on needs such as protecting consumers’ rights and interests, platforms should reasonably determine the standards for determining the deports and their means of collection, they may be collected all at once and may also be collected gradually according to a set proportion of business income until the full amount is collected.
Where the platform and in-platform businesses have an agreement on the legally-prescribed proceeds from the deposit, they are to be taken in accordance with that agreement; where there is no agreement, or the agreement is unclear, they are to be taken in accordance with transactional custom.
Platforms shall clarify the means and procedures for returning deposits and ensure that deposits are handled separately; the appropriation or taking of deposits in any form is strictly prohibited, and unreasonable requirements must not be set up for the return of deposits.
Article 23: Platforms shall strictly follow laws and regulations such as the PRC Pricing Law and the PRC E-commerce Law, and must not have any of the following unreasonable conduct in charging:
(1) duplicative charges;
(2) charging without services or with little service;
(3) Passing on fees that should be born by the platform itself;
(4) Charging in-platform businesses fees for the provision of their basic business data;
(5) Compelling or indirectly compelling in-platform businesses to purchase services or to participate in promotion and sale activities, and collecting fees;
(6) Using means such as unreasonable deposits to indirectly charge or to increase charging standards;
(7) Implementing discriminatory pricing for in-platform businesses that are providing the same items or services and have the same transaction requirements;
(8) Collecting other unreasonable fees.
The “unreasonable fees” provided for in item (8) of the preceding paragraph may be comprehensively assessed in consideration of factors such as cost, market supply and demand, industry attributs, and the fee collection at other platforms of the same type.
Article 24: Where in-platform businesses feel that platform charges have exceeded a reasonable level, they may give feedback to the platform and submit relevant materials. Platforms shall promptly respond and actively consult with the in-platform businesses.
Platforms shall conduct research and assess issues that are the focus of a high volume of in-platform businesses’ feedback, and promptly revise and improve unreasonable charging rules.
Article 25: Platforms shall cooperate with the market administration departments’ oversight inspections and promptly and truthfully provide the needed materials and information as requested.
During oversight inspections, the market regulation departments may request that platforms provide relevant charging circumstances, the basis and process for calculating charging standards, and explanations of the reasonableness of charges.
Article 26: Industry associations and chambers of commerce are encouraged to strengthen self-discipline, establish mechanisms for communication and consultation with platforms in accordance with laws and regulations, assist market administration departments, regulate platform charging, guide platforms to increase the extent of support for in-platform businesses, and better protect the rights and interests of in-platform businesses, especially small and medium size businesses and merchants.
Article 27: These Guidelines give general guidance on compliance in platform charging. Where laws, regulations, rules, or policy documents have specific provisions on platform charging, they are controlling.
Article 28: This State Administration for Market Regulation is responsible for interpreting these Guidelines.
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