On October 15, 2025, China’s revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law took effect. Most foreign brands selling into China have not read it. They should. For the first time, Chinese law explicitly protects brands and sellers from platform abuse, fake reviews, and forced below-cost pricing. The rules changed in your favor. Here is what that means in practice.
What the Law Actually Changed
- Below-cost pricing banned: platforms can no longer pressure sellers to price products below cost, directly or indirectly. Fines range from RMB 50,000 to RMB 2 million for violations
- Fake reviews outlawed: the law explicitly prohibits false transactions, fabricated reviews, and malicious returns orchestrated by competitors
- Brand identity protection extended: online usernames, app names, store icons, and social media account identifiers are now protected under the same rules as trademarks
- Platform accountability: platforms must publish fair competition rules and set up reporting mechanisms for unfair practices
- Large enterprise restriction: companies with dominant market position cannot abuse their scale to disadvantage smaller sellers or foreign entrants
What This Means for Foreign Brands on Tmall, JD, and Douyin
On pricing: distributors on Chinese platforms used to face pressure to undercut each other into margin destruction. A distributor told us: “Before this law, the platform would threaten delisting if we did not match a competitor’s illegal below-cost price. Now we have grounds to refuse and file a complaint.” That protects your wholesale price and your brand positioning.
On brand protection: grey market sellers who copied your Tmall store name or used your brand name as a social media handle can now be reported under the AUCL, not just trademark law. The process is faster. The remedies are clearer.
On fake reviews: brands that competed with you using purchased positive reviews or automated negative review campaigns against your products now face criminal liability, not just civil complaints. This levels a playing field that was tilted hard against foreign entrants.
What You Should Do Now
- Register your brand’s Chinese-language name, store icon, and social account identifiers as protected identifiers under the new AUCL framework
- Include the anti-below-cost pricing clause in your distributor agreements: your Chinese contract can now reference the AUCL article directly
- Document any fake review activity against your products: screenshots, timestamps, seller IDs. You now have a legal mechanism to act
- Brief your Chinese distributor on their right to refuse platform pricing pressure: they may not know this protection exists
- Review your Tmall and JD store contracts for any clauses that conflict with the new law: platforms had 6 months to update their terms, and most have
For the full breakdown of how China’s platform regulations affect foreign brand strategy, read this analysis on China e-commerce platforms for international brands on Marketing to China.
The Distributor’s View: The Law Helps Only if You Kept the Paper Trail
The new rules are good news. But in practice, pressure rarely arrives as a written order. It arrives as a call from a category manager before a big festival: join the campaign, accept the extra discount, or lose the homepage slot. Nothing on paper. The brand says yes and the price is gone.
We saw this with a Swiss watch accessories brand ahead of last year’s Double 11. Their distributor was told to cut 35% or stay out of the main venue. The brand wanted to complain under the new law. The problem: every request came by voice on WeChat. There was no record to show a regulator or the platform’s compliance team.
We set up a simple rule for the next season. Any price request from a platform goes into a written follow-up message the same day, summarizing what was asked. The distributor contract now includes a minimum advertised price and names who may approve a campaign discount. When the 618 request came, the distributor declined in writing and quoted the brand’s policy. The slot stayed. The discount was limited to a gift with purchase.
For festival planning, read our Singles Day strategy for foreign brands.
“A law is only useful if you can prove what happened. Write it down the same day. Platform staff behave differently when they know there is a record.”
Jon Wang, Asia Pro Distribution, Shanghai
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See also how we find distributors in China.
Asia Pro Distribution works with brands working through Chinese platform agreements and distributor contracts. The Anti-Unfair Competition Law changes give you tools you did not have before. We help brands use them: structuring agreements that protect your pricing, briefing distributors on their new rights, and flagging grey market activity to the right authorities. Contact us if your China e-commerce setup needs a legal-aware review.
