On February 7 2021, the antimonopoly Commission of the State Council issued the antimonopoly guidelines of the antimonopoly Commission of the State Council on the field of platform economy (hereinafter referred to as the "guidelines"), which will be implemented as of the date of promulgation.

Based on the “anti monopoly law”, the “guidelines” is divided into six chapters and 24 articles, which make specific provisions on anti-monopoly law enforcement and supervision in the field of platform economy, including the basic principles of anti-monopoly supervision, the definition of relevant markets, the form and classification of monopoly agreements, the determination of abusing market dominant position, the determination of concentration of business operators, the determination of abusing administrative power to exclude and restrict competition, etc. Combining with the characteristics of platform economy, the guide clarifies the criteria for judging whether "a binary choice", "big data price discrimination" and other behaviors constitute monopolistic behavior, adheres to the principle of case analysis, and makes further provisions on the boundaries of important concepts such as relevant markets.

The release of the guide provides a clearer idea and reference for the judgment and law enforcement supervision of monopoly problems in the field of platform economy. It is worth noting that the relevant provisions such as "judgment without identifying the relevant market" are deleted from the official draft, and the existing rules of anti-monopoly law are still followed in the law enforcement idea.

For more information please contact assistant@bestao-consulting.com