The 2025 China Fair Competition Policy Publicity Week, themed “Unified National Market, Fair Competition for the Future,” was officially launched in Beijing on September 8. Jointly organized by the Office of Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Committee under the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and other relevant agencies, the campaign featured 85 key events, aiming to implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on safeguarding and promoting fair competition and accelerating the development of a unified national market.
As the opening and major event, the 11th International Forum on Fair Competition Policy of China was held in Beijing from September 8 to 9, 2025. Key officials including Luo Wen, Minister of SAMR, Meng Yang, Vice Minister of SAMR and Tang Wenhong, Member of the Party Leadership Group of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, etc, attend the forum and delivered speeches. Besides, the forum attracted around 300 participants, including key officials of competition authorities from Brazil, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and Singapore; representatives from international organizations such as the Eurasian Economic Commission, UNCTAD, and WIPO; as well as professionals and experts from Chinese relevant authorities, business associations, academics, and enterprises. The forum served as a platform for international dialogue and cooperation, bringing together diverse perspectives to foster an open, fair, orderly, and dynamic market environment.
The forum was structured into one keynote speech session and four sub-sessions. At the keynote speech session, heads of competition supervision and enforcement authorities from various countries (regions) introduced their respective competition policies and enforcement priorities, followed by extensive exchanges. The four sub-sessions focused on topics such as antitrust and innovation, enforcement against abuse of market dominance and monopoly agreements, merger control, and anti-unfair competition. Below summarizes the key points of discussion:
- Strengthening Anti-Monopoly Enforcement and Promoting Innovative Development: this session examines how transparent, rules-based enforcement and cross-border cooperation can effectively regulate monopolistic practices and create an environment conducive to technological innovation and industrial upgrading. According to the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China, since the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of the SPC on January 1, 2019, the Court had accepted 316 second-instance civil and administrative monopoly cases as of August 31, 2025, with 276 cases concluded—97 of which were completed in 2024. In 2024, China’s courts nationwide identified 31 cases constituting monopolies, marking a 2.1-fold increase year-on-year. In 2025, 34 monopoly cases were accepted, representing an 80% increase year-on-year. In addition, judicial and administrative enforcement maintained positive interaction, with 2 out of every 10 judicial cases related to administrative penalty cases.
- Enhancing the Efficiency of the Anti-Monopoly Review of Concentrations of Undertakings to Facilitate High-Quality Economic Development: this session highlighted the importance of merger control in preventing excessive market concentration and safeguarding competition, while emphasizing the need to balance rigorous review with efficiency to align competition with sustainable, high-quality growth. Xu Lefu, Director-General of the Anti-Monopoly Enforcement Department II (responsible for merger review), introduced that as of August 31, 2025, SAMR had reviewed 476 merger cases, concluding 453 of them. The average preliminary review period before acceptance was 18.63 days, and the average review period was 26.2 days.
- Implementing the China’s Revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law, Build a Unified National Market: this session outlined the legislative background and significance of the revised law, with a focus on the digital economy, platform governance, and data rights protection. Best practices in legislation, enforcement, and corporate compliance were shared to build a comprehensive compliance framework across ex-ante, in-process, and ex-post stages, providing robust legal safeguards for the unified national market. It was reported that in 2024, the authorities at all levels across China investigated 14,188 unfair competition cases, including 143 cases involving trade secret infringement, and the courts concluded over 10,000 unfair competition cases involving critical technological fields such as big data and artificial intelligence, as well as emerging industries.
- Strengthening Fundamental Position of Competition Policy to Optimizing the Market Environment of Fair Condition: this session shares domestic and international experiences in competition assessment, cross-border enforcement cooperation, regional integration, and corporate compliance management. Delegates also called for rejecting irrational competition, strengthening compliance, fostering innovation, and enhancing international cooperation. The concept of “involutionary competition” has been frequently discussed, with calls for the industry to shift away from irrational competition—such as price wars and subsidy battles—toward market innovation and enhancing product quality.
Chaired by a senior SAMR official, the forum concluded successfully. Participants unanimously agreed on the need to further consolidate the foundational role of competition policy, give equal emphasis to institutional development and enforcement practice, and deepen international exchanges and cooperation. The consensus underscored collective efforts to shape a more open, fair, orderly, and dynamic market environment, thereby contributing wisdom and strength to the development of China’s unified national market and to global competition governance.