Draft guidelines propose stricter e-commerce fee regulations

China's top market regulator unveiled draft guidelines on Sunday to tighten oversight of how e-commerce and online platforms charge merchants, as Beijing ramps up efforts to promote fairer competition and reduce the operational burden on smaller vendors, who form the backbone of the platform economy.

The State Administration for Market Regulation, released a 28-article draft guideline seeking to standardize the way platforms collect commissions, membership fees, technical service charges, information fees, and marketing expenses from merchants.

The proposed rules, open for public feedback since Friday, said that platforms must adhere to principles of fairness, legality, and good faith when setting fees. Pricing should reflect service agreements, business norms, and the operating conditions of merchants.

The regulator encourages platforms to adopt flexible, mutually beneficial pricing models and offer discounts or fee waivers, especially to small and medium-sized merchants, as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Platforms will also be required to set up dedicated compliance teams and internal mechanisms to identify and prevent unreasonable charges. This includes preemptive risk assessments and internal audits of fee structures.

Notably, the draft rules called on platforms to clearly publicize their fee standards, honor fee reduction promises, and respect merchants' rights to be informed and to choose services. The guideline also ban eight types of unfair practices, including duplicate charging, charging without delivering services, and passing on costs that should be borne by the platform itself.

The SAMR also said platforms should proactively respond to merchant concerns, cooperate with inspections, and promote industry self-regulation to maintain fair market competition.