China’s revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law took effect on 15 October 2025. For international businesses, the practical task is not simply to update a legal summary. It is to identify whether existing sales incentives, marketing practices, platform operations, trading terms and cross-border arrangements remain consistent with the revised rules.
1. Do Not Leave the Review to the Legal Team Alone
The revised law reaches well beyond conventional competition-law issues. Sales rebates and commissions, marketing claims, third-party expenditure, platform traffic and rule management, and payment or liability terms imposed on counterparties may all require review.
Businesses should therefore translate the legal changes into an operational checklist for sales, marketing, procurement, channel, platform and management teams. The review should focus on whether transactions are genuine, benefits are transparent, claims are supported by evidence, and platform rules or an advantageous position are being used to impose unreasonable conditions.
2. Recheck Sales Incentives and Third-Party Expenditure
Discounts, commissions, marketing fees, consultancy fees, gifts and business hospitality do not automatically amount to commercial bribery. Businesses should nevertheless verify that each arrangement has a genuine commercial basis, has been properly approved and recorded, is used for its stated purpose, and does not direct benefits to a person or entity that may improperly influence a transaction.
The revised law also strengthens the regulation of recipients of improper benefits. Compliance reviews should therefore consider not only whether the company offers an improper benefit, but also whether employees, agents, distributors or other business partners solicit or accept benefits that may influence a transaction. Renaming a payment or routing it through a third party does not remove the underlying risk.
3. Recheck Marketing Claims, Comparisons and Traffic Data
Businesses should revisit claims concerning product performance, sales volumes, customer cases, user reviews, market rankings, awards and comparisons with competitors, and confirm that they are accurate and supported by traceable evidence.
The law continues to prohibit false or misleading commercial publicity and places further emphasis on online conduct such as fabricated transactions and reviews. The review should therefore extend beyond formal advertising to websites, social media, platform listings, sales presentations, distributor materials and content produced or circulated by third parties. A business should not assume that it has no compliance exposure simply because an agent published the content.
4. Recheck the Use of Platforms, Data and Algorithms
The revised law further develops the rules on online unfair competition. Regulatory scrutiny may arise where data, algorithms, technology or platform rules are used for traffic diversion, malicious interference, deliberate incompatibility, fabricated transactions, fabricated reviews or other conduct that disrupts competition.
Platform operators should also review their fair-competition rules, complaint handling, record retention and measures for addressing unfair competition on the platform. Not every recommendation algorithm, traffic-allocation decision or platform-management measure is unlawful. The assessment still depends on the way the measure is implemented, whether there is a legitimate justification, its effect on the independent business decisions of platform participants, and whether it disrupts market competition.
5. Recheck Terms Imposed on Smaller Businesses and Other Counterparties
The revised law addresses the use by large enterprises and other businesses of an advantageous position arising from capital, technology, trading channels, industry influence or similar factors to require small and medium-sized enterprises to accept manifestly unreasonable payment periods, payment methods, liability terms or other trading conditions.
An advantageous position should not automatically be treated as equivalent to a dominant market position under the Anti-Monopoly Law, nor should it be inferred from company size alone. The assessment may take account of the party’s position in the industry, established trading practices and the effect on smaller businesses and market order. Businesses should review standard contracts, procurement terms and platform rules for arrangements that delay payment or transfer manifestly unreasonable risks.
6. Include Cross-Border Conduct and Individual Accountability in the Review
Conduct carried out outside China may be addressed under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law where it disrupts competition in China and harms the lawful rights and interests of businesses or consumers in China. Marketing strategies, platform rules, data practices or competitive conduct developed by an overseas headquarters should not therefore be treated as outside Chinese-law risk merely because the relevant decision was made abroad.
The revised law also strengthens consequences for responsible individuals and introduces credit-record consequences for certain conduct. A compliance review should therefore address not only corporate policies, but also approval authority, record-keeping requirements and accountability for personnel in sales, marketing, procurement, platform operations and management.
7. How Xeon & Partners Law Firm Can Assist
Xeon & Partners Law Firm assists international businesses with reviewing China-related sales incentives, third-party expenditure, marketing claims, platform rules and trading terms. We identify priority risks under the revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law and help translate legal requirements into workable approval, record-keeping and third-party management processes.
For cross-border businesses serving the China market, we can also assess whether decisions made outside China, platform operations or commercial arrangements may create competition-compliance exposure in China.