Final Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) Passes China’s Legislature

On November 4, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the final revised version of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China also known as the AUCL. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2018.
 
The original AUCL was first issued in 1993 as part of China’s overall transition to a more market-based economy, and covers anti-competitive behaviors such as commercial bribery, false advertising, trademarks, and trade secrets, among others. The revision process to the law, which first began in February of 2016, seeks to address the developments of the past two decades, in particular the ubiquity of online market competition.
 
The main changes that were made to the draft were related to: 

• “Fairly well-known”
• Misleading business information
• Trade secrets
• Industry organizations
• Administrative penalties