The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR; ) is a ministerial-level agency directly under the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

responsible for market supervision and management. SAMR was established in 2018. It is China's primary

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

regulator.

History

The Administration was created as part of the

deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions The deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions ( zh, , p=Shēnhuà dǎng hé guójiā jīgòu gǎigé, s=深化党和国家机构改革) was a large-scale reform of the institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Peopl ...

, and merged or abolished a number of previous agencies, such as the State Intellectual Property Office. SAMR was created under the banner of the Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission under

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

, current

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...

. The Administration consolidates in one ministry the market regulation functions previously shared by three separate agencies, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC). In 2018, SAMR began a probe into Pinduoduo following the company being criticized extensively in domestic media for its selling of '' shanzhai'' and counterfeit products. In November 2020, SAMR issued antitrust guidelines which addressed

platform economy The platform economy encompasses economic and social activities facilitated by digital platforms. These platforms — such as Amazon (company), Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, Microsoft and Google — serve as intermediaries between various groups of users, ...

company issues. These guidelines came into effect in February 2021. Among other provisions, the guidelines state that variable interest entity structures will no longer be exempt from merger review and that SAMR may investigate acquisitions of emerging platforms even when the parties turnover does not meet notification thresholds. In March 2021,

stated that China would strengthen anti-trust enforcement to ensure healthy healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy. In November 2021, SAMR's antitrust bureau was upgraded to vice ministerial status following the appointment of Gan Lin as the bureau's new chief.

Function

SAMR is China's primary

regulator, although its authority also has some overlap with the

National Development and Reform Commission The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is the third-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, which functions as a macroeconomic management agency. Established as the State Planning C ...

and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It also has regulatory functions involving data regulation and labor issues. The E-Commerce Law is part of SAMR's broader mandate, and therefore it is a significant regulator in the area of

e-commerce in China China is the world's largest market for e-commerce. Domestic e-commerce firms have the greatest share of China's market, with foreign companies having a comparatively small presence. The expansion of e-commerce in China has resulted in particular e ...

. As of at least 2024, the SAMR provincial agencies for Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai have been particularly active in antitrust enforcement. SAMR's antitrust enforcement approach has been more stringent than pre-SAMR enforcement, and has remained more stringent as of at least early 2024.

Leadership

References

External links

* {{authority control Government agencies of China 2018 establishments in China Competition regulators