China Releases Second Draft of E-Commerce Law

On Nov. 7, the National People's Congress (NPC) has released the second reading draft of the e-commerce lawfor public comment, with a deadline of Nov. 26. The second reading draft has a number of changes comparing to the previous version. The new draft focuses on IPR infringements, unfair competition, electronic contracts, electronic payment, and dispute resolution mechanism of e-commerce. A large section of logistics, personal information, and consumer protection from the previous draft was taken out. Although the draft law still concerns personal information and consumer protection, many detailed articles on these issues were replaced by references to the Cybersecurity Law and related personal information regulations, the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law.