China's top market regulator issued new guidelines aimed at regulating how online platforms charge merchants, in a bid to reduce operational burdens for businesses and curb unfair practices in the booming digital sector.
The new guidelines, published by the State Administration for Market Regulation, set out compliance requirements for fees such as commissions, membership dues, technical service charges, information service fees, and marketing expenses.
According to the guidelines, platforms should not charge merchants multiple times for the same service, collect fees without providing adequate services, or pass on costs that should be borne by the platform itself. They are barred from charging merchants for access to their own basic operating data.
The guidelines also impose obligations on platforms to publicly disclose their fee structures. Operators must clearly display service agreements and transaction rules in prominent positions on their homepages.
Any changes to fee-related policies must be subject to legally required public consultation. Platforms must also retain historical versions of their pricing rules, keeping all versions from the three years prior to the implementation of any revisions.
Additionally, the guidelines prohibit platforms from coercing or indirectly pressuring merchants into purchasing services or participating in promotional campaigns.
The use of unreasonable security deposits to disguise raised fees is also banned, as are discriminatory pricing against merchants with similar trading conditions.
