China has proposed draft regulations to regulate pricing in the internet platform market. The objective is to avoid unfair practices, provide fair competition and defend consumer rights. The regulations focus on transparency to avoid larger platforms taking unfair advantage of their market position and eliminating smaller businesses.

Highlights

• Platforms must disclose clear pricing policies.
• Misleading discounts and hidden charges will be restricted.
• Equal access for small and medium businesses will be ensured.
• Price discrimination based on user data will be checked.
• Oversight will strengthen consumer rights.

The draft rules regulate some unfair practices, including fake discounts and concealed charges. Imposing transparency is one way through which the government aims to ensure that fair standards are maintained in the market. Platforms with high user volumes will need to disclose comprehensive pricing information and prevent the use of promotions that misinform consumers and unfairly harm competition.

The draft is focused on support to small and medium businesses (SMEs). It is meant to stop the price-disadvantaged practices employed by platforms, which work to the detriment of smaller sellers. The rules will have a more balanced market online upon guaranteeing equal access by the SMEs.

Protection of consumers is a key element in the draft rules. The use of user data such as setting prices higher on regular users will be banned. This will assist in promoting equal pricing and more transparency which will continue to build reliability in digital markets among consumers.