A high-level press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on September 20th shed light on the country's strategic approach to market regulation for the upcoming "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026-2030). Officials from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) outlined their plans to address critical issues such as dismantling barriers to a unified national market, curbing "involution-style" competition, and strengthening food and drug safety oversight.

The conference, part of a series on the new five-year plan's opening phase, delved into how the regulatory framework will adapt to foster high-quality development. Key areas of focus include creating a more favorable environment for platform economy growth while ensuring robust supervision, with the overarching goal of building a modern, efficient market governance system.

Deepening the Unified National Market Initiative

Significant progress has been made in building a unified national market, which has been instrumental in leveraging China's vast market advantages and unlocking economic growth potential. When asked about further steps to remove bottlenecks, Wang Guowei, Director of the Planning and Finance Department at SAMR, stated that regulators will intensify fair competition reviews, reinforce the foundational role of competition policy, and improve the quality and effectiveness of anti-monopoly enforcement to resolutely dismantle local protectionism and market segmentation.

Wang noted that a fair competition review system is already in place, with a source-control mechanism covering policy measures proposed by governments at all four levels. The next step involves strengthening the review responsibilities of local governments and refining the rules, standards, and procedures to make the system more rigidly binding. Furthermore, it was revealed that key sectors affecting people's livelihoods, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), utilities like water, electricity, and heating, and the platform economy, will be priorities in anti-monopoly enforcement during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, with a commitment to promptly publicize case results.

Comprehensive Measures to Curb "Involution"

"Involution-style" competition, characterized by excessive and often destructive rivalry, is a major impediment to a healthy market, squeezing corporate profits and hampering industry upgrading. Addressing this issue is seen as a crucial step to foster a positive market ecosystem, resolve the contradiction between strong supply and weak demand, and smooth the domestic economic cycle. Shu Wei, Deputy Head of SAMR, explained that the regulatory strategy will focus on three pillars: strengthening price enforcement, intensifying quality supervision, and bolstering anti-unfair competition efforts to steer competition towards quality rather than price.

The outlined measures include conducting cost investigations and price checks on enterprises that initiate malicious low-price wars and disrupt production order, with strict penalties for violations. Regulators will also enhance quality risk monitoring and random inspections, particularly increasing the proportion of checks in high-priority areas such as e-commerce platforms and wholesale markets. Routine special enforcement actions against unfair competition will be deployed. "A price war cannot secure the future; only superior quality can win the market," Shu Wei stated, adding that the goal is to make "fair price for quality goods" and "winning by quality" a market-wide consensus.

Enhancing Tangible Food and Drug Safety

Ensuring food and drug safety is paramount, given its direct bearing on public health. Recognizing the challenges posed by the vast number of food producers and operators, Wang Guowei noted that regulatory resources will be re-optimized and grassroots supervision teams strengthened to better fulfill their role as food safety guardians. Efforts will also focus on clarifying responsibilities and improving coordination mechanisms across the entire supply chain—from production and market entry to storage, transport, and delivery—as well as in new business forms like online sales and catering.

For drug safety, Yang Sheng, Deputy Head of the NMPA, announced plans to issue a comprehensive document on consolidating the drug safety responsibility system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The agency will intensify surveillance on vaccines and centrally procured medical devices, targeting key areas such as clinical trials and entrusted production, as well as newer sales channels like online platforms. This will involve increased monitoring, sampling, and inspection efforts. "Protecting consumer rights is the starting point and ultimate goal of market regulation," Shu Wei added, highlighting initiatives in the new plan period to tackle violations of consumer interests, regulate online sales and livestreaming e-commerce, and streamline complaint channels. The goal is to ensure the online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism covers all major internet trading platforms, making rights protection more convenient for the public.

Fostering Innovation and Healthy Growth in the Platform Economy

This year, SAMR has handled major cases, including a series involving "ghost restaurants" on e-commerce platforms, to protect the rights of businesses and consumers operating within these platforms. Zhu Jianqiao, Director of the Department of Network Transaction Supervision at SAMR, outlined a three-pronged strategy for the future: improving institutional rules, conducting normalized oversight, and promoting compliance guidance to achieve win-win development for both platforms and their users.

On the legal front, China will accelerate amendments to the E-commerce Law. This includes introducing new penalty types, such as proportional fines and business suspension, on top of existing legal liability provisions, to further solidify platform responsibilities in areas like merchant onboarding review, product information management, and consumer safety. Simultaneously, the legal scope will be expanded to cover new business types and related parties, including new-form e-commerce operators and workers in new employment patterns. In addition, special campaigns will be launched to regulate the livestreaming e-commerce sector and second-hand goods trading platforms. "The driving force for the platform economy's growth is innovation, and its foundation is mutual benefit," Zhu Jianqiao commented. "Only when platforms shoulder their responsibilities and share the development dividends with merchants, workers, and consumers can the platform economy achieve long-term, stable success."