On 27 and 28 December 2023, SAMR convened the National Market Supervision Work Conference, reviewing the work conducted in 2023 and outlining the key tasks for 2024.

The conference emphasized that in 2023, the national market supervision system achieved eight main results. Specifically, it: i) promoted the healthy development of business entities, ii) strengthened the governance of fair competition in building a unified market across the country, iii) effectively and orderly advanced the “building of China’s strength in product quality”(质量强国) and the implementation of the “National Standardization Development Outline”, iv) established and improved safety responsibility systems for food, drugs, industrial products, and special equipment, v) strengthened market supervision law enforcement in fields affecting people’s livelihood, vi) enhanced the standardization and digitization levels of market supervision, vii) comprehensively conducted investigations and rectification of issues related to the work style within the market supervision system, and viii) actively carried out comprehensive cooperation and exchanges.

In 2024, market supervision departments will focus on improving the quality of development of business entities; vigorously promote the implementation of fair competition policies; fully leverage the roles of quality and standards to strengthen the construction of quality infrastructure; firmly safeguard the safety bottom line of food, drugs, industrial products, and special equipment; innovate regulatory methods; comprehensively advance strict, standardized, fair, and civilized law enforcement; and improve the quality of the market supervision workforce. Specifically, market supervision departments will:

  • Implement various measures to enhance the quality of business entity development. Efforts will be directed towards optimizing the scale and structure, increasing activity levels, improving compliance levels, enhancing innovation and competitive capabilities, assisting in quality and efficiency improvement, and guiding the undertaking of social responsibility.
  • Continue to rectify improper market competition and market intervention behaviors. SAMR will accelerate the promulgation of the “Regulations on Fair Competition Review,” conduct special law enforcement actions against anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition in fields affecting people’s livelihood, refining and improving anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition system rules, and increase publicity efforts for fair competition compliance by operators.
  • Establish quality benchmarks and advanced standards. SAMR will select leading companies in the “building of China’s strength in product quality”, initiate major flagship projects in the construction of a strong quality chain, nurture counties, districts and towns with strong quality attributes. It will also improve technical, emission, and energy consumption standards, make breakthroughs in international standards in key and emerging areas, and implement major flagship projects of standards stabilizing supply chains.
  • Promote orderly competition and innovative development in the platform economy. SAMR will optimize the environment for innovative development, guide platform companies to compete in an orderly manner, stimulate the internal dynamics of operators within platforms, and enhance the level of normalized supervision.
  • Fully implement safety responsibilities for food, drugs, industrial products, and special equipment. SAMR will establish a sound food safety risk prevention and control system, strictly supervise drug safety risks, address the root causes of industrial product quality and safety, and implement the safety responsibilities of special equipment.
  • Enhance the efficiency of law enforcement. SAMR will establishing a mechanism to supervise and urge the implementation of the system of “three documents and one letter” (referring to “Reminder and Urging Letter”, “Interview Notice”, “Investigation Notice”, and “Administrative Penalty Decision – for business entity” or “Administrative Advice Letter – for administrative organ”). It will also regulate the discretionary power of administrative penalties, improve regulatory systems and rules, strengthen the incentive and constraint role of credit, improve smart regulatory capabilities, and coordinate in handling cases and protecting consumer rights.
  • Continuously deepen cooperation among local-level departments of SAMR, regions, as well as international exchanges. SAMR will actively promote innovation and internationalization in the construction of quality infrastructure, enriching cooperation measures for local-level departments and agencies, enhance regional coordination levels, and deepen international exchanges.

In summary, for 2024, SAMR will emphasize efforts to foster a fair and competitive business environment. Concurrently, SAMR will maintain its commitment to ensuring product safety, promoting innovation, and further enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of market supervision in China. It is noteworthy that SAMR has proposed to expedite the promulgation of the “Regulations on Fair Competition Review“. This document, together with others released in 2023, such as the “Provisions on Prohibiting the Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude or Restrict Competition“, the “Guidelines for the Implementation of Third-Party Evaluation in Fair Competition Review“, and the “Guidelines for Enforcement Talks on Abusing Administrative Power to Exclude or Restrict Competition“, will collectively establish a legal framework to safeguard against improper market intervention practices.