SCLAO Publishes Draft Anti-Unfair Competition Law Amendment

On February 25, the State Council Legislative Affairs Office (SCLAO) published for comment the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) Amendment. This is the first amendment proposed by SAIC to SCLAO since the law went into effect in 1993. The deadline for comments is March 25. 

There are several highlights of the revisions, including:

• Reduced overlaps and inconsistencies of the current AUCL with the updated Trademarks Law, Anti-Monopoly Law and Advertising Law
• Introduced new articles to regulate unfair competition by operators with market superiority position, complementing the requirements on "market dominant position" by the Anti-Monopoly Law
• Added requirements on behaviors such as interfering, limiting or influencing other business operators using network technologies or application services 
• Included one catch-all article to capture any potential unfair competition behaviors, with discretion of explanation by SAIC
• Increased the penalty of trade secrets violation, and made clear burden of proof in trade secrets cases
• Authorized enforcement agencies the power of employing administrative compulsory measures, including seizure

USITO has prepared a comparison between the draft amendment and the existing law in Chinese, and will share the translation as soon as possible.