In April 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced the legislative work plan for 2021. The work plan includes 67 legislative items to be formulated or revised throughout the year – including 6 drafts of laws and administrative regulations, and 61 departmental rules and regulations (36 legislative items of the first category and 25 of the second category *). The following is a summary of legislative items in key areas.

Anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition

In order to strengthen the enforcement of anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition, thus safeguarding fair market competition, China will revise the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China, formulate the Provisions on the Prohibition of Unfair Competition on the Internet, and revise the Provisions on the Protection of Trade Secrets – among other regulations.

Food safety

The Measures for the Supervision and Inspection of Food Production and Marketing and the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Drug Distribution will be revised, with the aim to improve the comprehensive control of food safety and strengthen the whole-process supervision of drug safety.

Special equipment

The Administrative Measures for Safety Supervision and Inspection of Special Equipment and other regulations will be revised.

Market order

The Interim Provisions on Information Disclosure of Administrative Penalties for Market Supervision and Administration and the Measures for the Supervision and Handling of Contract-related Violations will be revised, with the aim to ensure better market order and market supervision system rules.

Product quality

In order to further improve the quality of products and services, SAMR will revise the Measures for the Administration of New Products of Measurement Instruments, the Measures for the Administration of National Standards, the Administrative Measures for the Standardization of Enterprises, and the Measures for the Administration of Organic Product Certification – among other regulations.

Intellectual property rights

SAMR will submit the Implementation Regulations of the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China (Revised Draft) to the State Council, and revise the Several Provisions on Regulating Patent Application Activities and other regulations for the protection of intellectual property rights.

According to SAMR, the fundamental aim of the legislative work in 2021 is to build a modern legal system for market supervision, strengthen legislation in key areas, speed up the legislative process, optimize the legislative procedures, and focus on improving the quality and efficiency of legislation, so as to lay a solid legal foundation for the long-term development of market supervision.

* Note: legislative items of the first category refer to the items that must be submitted to the Standing Committee for deliberation that year, which are mandatory plans. Legislative items of the second category refer to those that have already started the research and drafting process and that can be submitted for deliberation that year, which are guidance plans.

The full list of the 67 legislative items in Chinese is available at:

http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/fgs/202104/t20210401_327476.html