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Anti Unfair Competition Law Of The
People's Republic Of
China
(Adopted by the Third Session
of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress On September
2nd, 1993)
CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS CHAPTER
TWO ACTIVITIES OF UNFAIR COMPETITION CHAPTER THREE SUPERVISION CHAPTER
FOUR LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY CHAPTER FIVE SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES
Chapter One General Provisions
Article 1 This law is drawn up in order to safeguard the healthy
development of the socialist market economy, encourage and protect fair market
competition, prohibit unfair competition, safeguard the legal rights and
interests of managers.
Article 2 Managers shall abide by the principle
of voluntariness, equality, impartiality, honesty and good faith, and also
adhere to public commercial moral in their business transactions. "Unfair
competition", in this Law, means activities made by managers who damage the
others' legal rights and interests, disturbe the order of social economy and
violate the provisions of this Law.
"Manager", in this Law, means the
legal person, the other economic organisations and individuals who deal with
commercial business or profitable service (commodities in this Law in hereafter
as to commodity which includes service).
Article 3 The governments in
all levels shall adopt methods to prohibit unfair competition and to create the
sound environment and conditions for fair competition.
The Bureaus of
Industrial and Commercial Management of the People's Government over the county
level supervise unfair competition, except for the supervision made by the other
organisations in accordance with the provisions of the other laws or
regulations.
Article 4 The State shall encourage, support and safeguard
all organisations and individuals to carry out social supervising for unfair
competition.
Officials in the State organs should not support or shield
unfair competition.
Chapter Two
Activities of Unfair Competition
Article 5 Managers should not use
the following unfair methods in their business transactions which can damage
other competitors:
1. to feign the others' registered trade mark;
2. to use the specific name, package, decoration of the famous or noted
commodities, or use a similar name, package, decoration of the famous or noted
commodities, which may confuse consumers distinguishing the commodities to the
famous or noted commodities;
3. to use the name of other enterprise or
personal name and make people confuse this commodity to the other's commodity;
4. to feign or pretend to be the certificate of attestation, mark of
fame and high qualification, to feign the certificate of originally produced
place of the commodities, which make others to misunderstand the qualification
of the commodities because of the false certificates.
Article 6 Public
facility enterprises or the other enterprises which legally monopolized the
special market in accordance with law shall not force the others to purchase the
commodities pointed by the enterprises or prohibit the competition from the
other companies.
Article 7 The government and its organ shall not abuse
its authority to force the others to purchase the commodities from the pointed
seller or prohibit the fair competition from the others. The government and its
organ shall not abuse its authority to prohibit outside commodities from going
into home market, or prohibit domestic commodities from going to outside market.
Article 8 Managers shall not use money or properties or the other
methods to bribe to others in order to sell or purchase commodities. It shall be
guilty of giving bribe if managers give a secret commission to the other
organisations or individuals without the normal accounting records. It shall be
guilty of taking bribe, if the organisations or individuals accept the secret
discount without normal accounting records.
Managers may offer a
discount to the others in public, or may pay commission to the middle man in
selling or purchasing commodities. However, managers who give discount to the
others or pay commission to the middle man, or the others who take the discount
or commission shall make accounting strictly according to the facts.
Article 9 Managers shall not use advertisement or the other methods to
make a false propaganda for the quality, composition, function, usage, producer,
time of efficacy and place of production of commodities.
Advertising
company shall not be an agent of, or design, or make, or propagandize false
advertisement, if it know or should know the truth.
Article 10 Managers
shall not use the following methods to infringe upon business secrecy:
1. to steal, coerce, or use any other unfair method to obtain the
other's business secrets;
2. to disclose, use or permit others to use
the business secrets mentioned in Section 1 of this Article.
3. to
violate the contract or the requirement to publish, use or permit others to use
the business secrets, which were maintained as secrets by the legal owner of the
business secrecy.
The third party who knows or should know the illegal
activities as first mentioned, and who gains, uses or publishes the business
secrecy shall be looked as activities of infringing upon the others' business
secrecy.
"Business secrecy", in this Article, means the utilized
technical information and business information which is unknown by the public,
which may create business interests or profit for its legal owners, and also is
maintained secrecy by its legal owners.
Article 11 Manager shall not
sell commodity at the price lower than the commodity's cost in order to put the
other competitors out of the competition.
Any of the following
activities shall not be looked as unfair competition:
1. to sell fresh
or live commodities;
2. to quickly sell commodities before their
expiration or the other overstock commodities;
3. to cut prices or on
sale in season;
4. to cut prices to sell commodity for cleaning debts,
changing or suspending business.
Article 12 Manager shall not sell
commodity attached with unreasonable condition or force the consumers to
unwillingly purchase any additional commodity that come together with the
product that the consumer buys.
Article 13 Manager shall not sell
commodity with lottery ticket such as the following activities:
1. to
sell commodity by the way of making fake award or arranging inside person to win
the lottery;
2. to sell unqualified or high prices commodity by the way
of awarding selling;
3. to sell commodity with lottery award which the
top award is more than 5000 RMB yuan.
Article 14 Manager shall not
fabricate, spread false facts to damage the business reputation or commodity
fame of the other competitor.
Article 15 Bidder shall not act in
collusion for bidding, not raise or reduce the price for bidding.
Bidder
shall not collude with the company that is offering to bid in order to put the
other bidders out of the competition.
Chapter Three Supervision
Article 16 The supervising authority over the county's
administration may carry out the supervision to activities of unfair
competition.
Article 17 The supervising authorities has following powers
in the supervision:
1. Require manager, connected person, testified
person in due process and require them to supply testified material or the other
documents with regarding to activities of unfair competition.
2.
Require, copy agreements, accounting books, vouchers, documents, records,
business fax or letters and the other materials with regarding to the activities
of unfair competition;
3. Check commodities or properties with regarding
to the activities of unfair competition under the provision of the Article 5 of
this Law, and also if necessary, require manager to explain the originated
source and sum of the commodities, to suspend selling, to wait for checking,
prohibit to move, hide or eliminate the commodities or the properties.
Article 18 Supervisor shall show the certificate of supervision when he
carries out the supervision to activities of unfair competition.
Article 19 Under the
supervision of the activities of unfair competition, manager, connected person
and testified person shall supply the related materials or information strictly
according to the facts.
Chapter
Four Legal Responsibility
Article 20 Manager shall bear the
responsibility for compensating to the damage made by damager to the damaged
party under the violation of the provision of this Law. Amount of the
compensation shall be equivalent to the profit made by the damager during its
damaging, if it is difficult to measure the amount of damage; And it also shall
compensate the reasonable cost to the damaged party who has paid the cost to
investigate the activities of unfair competition made by damager.
The
damaged party may bring law suit to the People's Court when its legal interests
and rights are damaged.
Article 21 Manager shall be punished in
accordance with the Law of Trade Mark of the People's Republic of China and the
Law of Supervision on Product Qualification of the People's Republic of China,
if he imitates the other's registered trade mark, uses the other enterprise's
name or personal name without permitting, forges or fake the mark of
certificate, the mark of famous or high quality products, fake the original
produce place, make a fake or misunderstanding description for quality of the
products.
The supervisor shall order to stop the illegal activities,
confiscate the illegal income, and also fine amount from one to three times of
the illegal income; may revoked the business licence as the facts is serious, if
the manager uses the special name, package, decoration of the famous or noted
commodities or uses the similar name, package, decoration to that of the famous
or noted commodities and make the commodities confusing to the famous or noted
commodities. If manager sells false or bad commodities and violates the Criminal
Law, he shall be investigated in accordance with the Criminal Law.
Article 22 Manager bribe by giving money or properties or using any
other method in order to sell or purchase the commodities and violate the
Criminal Law, shall be investigated in accordance with the Criminal Law; if the
acts as first mentioned do not violate the Criminal Law, the supervisor may fine
an amount from more than 10, 000 to less than 200,000 RMB yuan in according to
the facts,and confiscate the illegal income.
Article 23 Manager of
public facility enterprise or the other enterprises with a legal monopoly
position force others to purchase the commodities which the manager manages, or
put the other managers out of competition, the supervisor in the provincial or
city with directions administration shall order to stop illegal activities, and
may fine amount from more than 50,000 to less than 200,000 RMB yuan in
accordance with the facts.
The supervisor may confiscate illegal income,
and may fine amount from one to three times of illegal income, if the pointed
manager take an advance to sell the unqualified and high price commodities or
abuse of power to charge unreasonable fee.
Article 24 The supervisor
shall order to stop the illegal activities, clear up the bad influence, may fine
amount from more than 10,000 to less than 200,000 RMB yuan in accordance with
the fact, if the manager uses advertisement or the other method to make a fake
or misunderstanding description for its commodities.
Supervisor shall
order to stop the illegal activities, confiscate illegal income and fine in
accordance with the law, if the manager in advertisement agent, design, make or
publish a fake advertisement as it knows the true situation.
Article 25
Supervisor shall order to stop the illegal activities, may fine amount from more
than 10,000 to less than 200,000 RMB yuan, if manager violates the Article 10 to
infringe upon the business secrecy.
Article 26 Supervisor shall order to
stop illegal activities, and may fine amount from more than 10,000 to less than
100,000 RMB yuan, if manager violate the Article 13 in regarding to sell with
lottery.
Article 27 If bidders act in collusion, raise or reduce the
price of the bid; and bidder and invite tender ganged up in order to put the
others out of the fair competition, its bid shall be invalid and the supervisor
may fine amount from more than 10,000 to less than200, 000 RMB yuan in
accordance with the facts.
Article 28 If the manager violate this Law
regarding to the order to stop selling, moving, hiding, eliminating the
commodities related to unfair competition, the supervisor may fine amount from
more than one to less than three times of price of commodities regarding to
selling, moving, hiding or eliminating as first mentioned.
Article 29 If
the party refuses to accept the fine decisionmade by supervisor may apply the
senior supervisor to reexamine the case within 15 days from the date when the
fine decision was received; If the party who refuses to accept the decision of
reexamine made by the senior supervisor may bring a law suit to the People's
Court within 15 days after the reexamined decision received; or the party may
bring a law suit to the People's Court directly.
Article 30 If the
government or its departments violate Article 7 of this Law to force the others
to purchase the commodities from the pointed manager, limit the others make a
fair competition, or limit commodities to transfer between regions, the senior
government shall order to correct these mistakes; If the fact is serious, the
same level government organ or the senior government organ shall
administratively punish the person who bear the direct responsibility. The
pointed manager take advance to sell commodities with unqualified and high
price, the supervisor shall confiscate the illegal income, and may fine amount
from more than one to less than three times of illegal income.
Article
31 Official of the supervisor of unfair competition who abuse of power,
negligence, commit on criminal guilty shall be punished by the Criminal Law; If
not guilty, it shall be punished in accordance with administrative regulations.
Article 32 Official of the supervisor for unfair competition shall be
punished by the Criminal Law, if he is fraudulent, or illegally shields the
manager from the legal punishment eventhough he knows he fact of the manager's
crime.
Chapter Five
Supplementary Articles
Article 33 This Law shall become effective on
December 1st,
1993.
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