It is worth noting that the strong supervision signal of the platform economy has been continuously released in the recent period. The Anti-Monopoly Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Supervision and other relevant departments have frequently issued multiple supporting documents around the platform economy. Anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies have also intensively "brightened swords" and have repeatedly issued top tickets. The industry pointed out that promoting the healthy development of platform economy, encouraging innovation and strengthening supervision are not partial and negligent. As the key point of force, strengthening anti-monopoly is still the highlight, and many important measures, including speeding up the revision of the anti-monopoly law, are expected to be implemented intensively.
At the end of last year, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed "strengthening anti-monopoly and preventing the disorderly expansion of capital", and made clear arrangements for the standardized development of platform companies in accordance with the law. A new round of anti-monopoly on the platform economy has since begun.
Since the beginning of this year, the strong supervision signal of the platform economy has been continuously released. The "Action Plan for Building a High-Standard Market System" issued at the beginning of the year clearly strengthened anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition regulations in new business areas such as the platform economy and the sharing economy. The government work report pointed out that the state supports the innovation and development of platform enterprises and enhances international competitiveness, while at the same time regulating development in accordance with the law. Strengthen anti-monopoly and prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, and resolutely maintain a fair competitive market environment.
The ninth meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Committee focused on the issue of promoting the healthy development of the platform economy. Starting from the strategic height of building a new national competitive advantage, it released equal emphasis on development and regulation, strengthened the protection of the rights and interests of market entities on the platform, and all financial activities should be included in financial supervision. For heavy signals such as high-quality development and high-quality life services. The meeting specifically emphasized "promoting fair competition, opposing monopoly, and preventing disorderly expansion of capital", and further clarified the need to "improve regulatory capabilities and levels, optimize regulatory frameworks, achieve full-chain supervision before and after the event, enrich anti-monopoly regulatory power, and enhance regulatory authority. Sex".
Liu Xiangdong, deputy director of the Economic Research Department of the China International Economic Exchange Center, told the reporter of "Economic Information Daily" that my country has entered a stage of high-quality development. Accelerating the construction of a high-standard market system is not only to create a good atmosphere of fair competition, but also to build a service for consumers. The benign market competition policy is to prevent platforms from using market dominance to threaten consumer rights and distort the market. Regarding the healthy development of the platform economy as a key task highlights my country’s solid steps in its competition policy. Regarding the platform economy as an anti-monopoly force, and improving the anti-monopoly rules and systems will help promote the platform economy to better follow a standardized and healthy development track.
Recently, relevant departments have intensively introduced a series of supporting policies around the platform economy. On February 7, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council formulated and issued the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council on Platform Economy, which signaled that Internet platforms are not outside the anti-monopoly law. On March 15th, the State Administration for Market Regulation formulated and promulgated the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of online Transactions", proposing measures such as prohibiting platforms from compulsory "choosing one over the other". It also clearly regulates new types of unfair competition behaviors such as fictitious transactions, misleading display evaluations, and fictitious traffic data.
At the operational level, relevant law enforcement agencies have also been intensively shining swords recently. According to the news on March 16, the State Administration of Market Supervision has recently launched administrative guidance on improving the quality of live broadcast delivery platforms. On March 12, the General Administration of Market Supervision announced that it had made administrative punishment decisions on ten cases of illegal implementation of operator concentration in the Internet field in accordance with the law, and 10 companies involving Tencent and Baidu were each fined 500,000 yuan.
On March 3, the State Administration of Market Supervision imposed administrative penalties on five community group buying companies, including Orange Heart Optimal, Duoduomai, Meituan Optimal, Shihuituan, and Shixianghui, for improper price behavior, totaling 6.5 million yuan.
The industry generally believes that the current platform economy has ushered in an era of strong supervision. Zhang Qinyu, director of the Institute of Economic Law of China University of Political Science and Law, told the reporter of "Economic Information Daily" that since the beginning of this year, various departments of the central government have intensively deployed and regulated the economic behavior of platforms and actively responded to the needs of consumers and operators. Determination of competitive behavior. Strengthening the anti-monopoly of the platform economy puts forward higher requirements for optimizing the internal governance of the platform economy. The elimination of unfair competition in the platform economy has created a fair competition market environment for the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises, and has a positive effect on safeguarding consumer rights and interests.
It is worth noting that as the top priority of the anti-monopoly legal system, the "Anti-Monopoly Law" is also being amended intensively. The Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress clearly stated that the "Anti-Monopoly Law" is one of the key legislative objects in 2021.
In the opinion of experts, how to incorporate the regulation of platform economy into the amendment of the "Anti-Monopoly Law" is the top priority this year. “The platform economy is difficult to define because of the relevant market, and there are many obstacles in determining the dominant position. This has made the "Anti-Monopoly Law" how to regulate the platform economy during the revision process, which has become the focus of people's attention." Zhang Qinyu said.
Local governments are also actively deploying. For example, Guangdong proposed to strengthen anti-monopoly and prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, and formulate opinions on the development of platform economic innovation and compliance.
In the opinion of experts, the next step is to improve and improve the rules and systems, and to enhance the regulatory capabilities and standards. Liu Xiangdong said that to regulate the healthy development of the platform economy, the first step is to establish rules and regulations, formulate leading rules and systems, and use big data and other information technology means to exert effective supervision on the healthy development of the platform economy to prevent problems before they occur.
Zhang Qinyu said that in platform economic supervision, we must adhere to the principle of inclusive and prudent supervision, clarify the boundaries between the market and the government, and promote the benign interaction between competition and innovation. On the one hand, it is possible to consolidate the responsibilities of the platform by formulating a list of responsibilities of the online trading platform, and give full play to the internal self-discipline mechanism of the platform economy.
On the other hand, the supervisory authority can guide, counsel, advise, remind, and interview platform operators by formulating flexible platform economic anti-monopoly clauses and guiding plans. In addition, enhance the awareness of e-commerce operators and users to maintain legitimate rights and interests and platform order, give full play to the positive role of consumer associations and other social organizations in regulating the platform economy, and realize a comprehensive supervision system that combines government supervision, industry self-discipline and social supervision .
Zhang Chenying, a member of the Expert Advisory Group of the State Council’s Anti-Monopoly Committee and Director of the Competition Law Research Center of Tsinghua University Law School, told a reporter from the Economic Information Daily that in the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan", a fair market competition environment should be constructed and anti-monopoly laws should be implemented in key areas. The specific rules for the optimization of the anti-monopoly legal system are still the main task. my country will accelerate the revision of the "Anti-Monopoly Law" and strengthen anti-monopoly law enforcement in key areas. Platform companies themselves should also improve their operational compliance awareness and make good use of platform features and platform resources to provide support for technological innovation.
(Source: Economic Information Daily)
