Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
© Higher School of Economics
The HSE hosted a roundtable discussion entitled “New Challenges for Antitrust Regulation: The Chinese Perspective.” The event was organized by BRICS International Centre for Competition Law and Policy (BRICS Centre). Special guests were Chinese colleagues from the Competition Policy and Assessment Research Centre (CPAC) of the State Administration of Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China (SAMR). Last year, the BRICS Centre and CPAC SAMR was signed strategic cooperation agreement.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of the FAS Russia, the Eurasian Economic Commission and employees of the BRICS Centre and Faculty of LawThe discussion was moderated by Alexey Ivanov, Director of the BRICS Centre and Professor of the Faculty of Law at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
He recalled that last year the BRICS Centre developed a draft international fair competition platforms, which were supported antimonopoly authorities of the association. Initiative was approved Vladimir Putin at the Kazan summit last October, and this is now a priority task for the BRICS Centre in the context of multilateral cooperation on competition. Alexey Ivanov noted: “We expect that the Chinese Centre for Competition Policy and Expertise will become a key partner in the development of this platform.”
The platform is intended to become a basis for the convergence of state policies and law enforcement practices to protect competition. The first stage of the project will be the creation of a unified system of interstate information exchange on economic concentration transactions and on the most pressing problems of socially significant markets. At the same time, the digitalization of cooperation within the BRICS is the key to the success of this “new architecture of international economic life.”
Deputy Head of the FAS Russia Andrey Tsyganov addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. He covered the history of interaction between the agencies of the two countries, which began in 1996 with the signing of an agreement between the governments of the Russian Federation and China on cooperation in the field of antimonopoly policy and the fight against unfair competition. The current areas of partnership were detailed, including the exchange of best practices, coordination in border markets and joint work within the BRICS framework. “Our countries are the driving force behind cooperation in the BRICS format. Many important projects begin with our initiatives. This cooperation is focused on the so-called socially significant markets: food, pharmaceuticals, digital economy,” the speaker said. Further emphasizing the importance of digitalization, Andrey Tsyganov noted that Russia is carefully studying the experience of China in regulating digital markets, as well as new approaches and solutions of Chinese regulators.
Deputy Director of CPAC Jie Fang spoke about the structure and activities of the center, as well as the work results of China’s antitrust regulator in 2024. During his speech, he also proposed three areas for further cooperation between the BRICS Center and CPAC: improving the cooperation mechanism by developing a clear direction and a clear understanding of common goals, which includes enhancing the role of CPAC in BRICS with the assistance of Russian colleagues; focusing on issues of mutual interest, which include antitrust supervision and enforcement in vital areas of the economy, developing mechanisms for monitoring the activities of Internet platforms, combating unfair competition in the digital environment, and protecting commercial secrets; developing new methods of cooperation, involving mutual provision of professional advice and assistance on compliance management for companies operating in Russia and China, as well as sharing the latest research results and enhancing the effectiveness of mutual learning.
In his speech, the head of the HR department of the CPAC, Changqing Wang, drew attention to the key role of human resources in antitrust research, emphasizing the need for educational work and training highly qualified specialists in this field. According to him, since its establishment, the center has paid special attention to supporting young personnel and improving their professional level.
Liwei Xie, Director of the CPAC Institute of Platform Economy, spoke about the development and regulation of the platform economy in China. She began her report with the latest data on the development of the country’s digital sector, according to which the monthly active mobile Internet users in China have reached 1.26 billion people. The volume of annual online retail sales exceeds 15 trillion yuan, which has allowed the Chinese online retail market to maintain its leading position in the world for 12 years in a row. At the same time, the platform economy has directly or indirectly provided employment for more than 200 million people.
According to the speaker, China’s platform economy is a multi-layered and multi-faceted system, where e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo together form a complete matrix and integrate multiple models, including B2C, C2C, B2B. In turn, short video entertainment platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have formed a complete industrial chain, from content creation to intellectual property incubation.
In recent years, Chinese authorities have been aggressively cracking down on violations such as abuse of dominance, false advertising, counterfeit goods, and price scams. The regulator has conducted a number of high-profile antitrust investigations into Alibaba, Meituan, and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). It has also tightened controls over mergers between companies in the platform economy and is clamping down on the placement of false advertising online. According to the regulator, these measures have already yielded results: major players have become more strict in complying with the rules, and the industry has entered a phase of “stable supervision.”
The platform economy is supervised according to the principle that “whoever is responsible for the offline sector also supervises the online sector.” SAMR’s area of responsibility includes comprehensive market supervision, covering online trade in goods and services, antitrust activities, and combating unfair competition in the digital environment. The legal basis for this is the Law on Electronic Commerce, the Rules for Supervision of Online Commerce, as well as laws on combating unfair competition, on the protection of personal data, and intellectual property. In 2024, SAMR stepped up the fight against violations in live commerce, including the sale of counterfeit goods and price manipulation. Work is underway to revise laws on pricing and unfair competition, and new regulations are being prepared for streaming services and platforms.
The Russian experience of regulating digital markets was presented by Irina Nikolaicheva, Head of the Department for Regulation of Communications and Information Technology of the FAS Russia. She reported that the agency is currently developing systemic approaches to the analysis and regulation of digital markets, studying such phenomena as network effects. The basis for this work was the amendments to the Law on Protection of Competition adopted in 2023, known as the fifth antimonopoly package. Before the amendments to the law, the service actively used soft law tools, in particular the “Principles of Good Conduct for Platforms” signed by the largest Russian marketplaces. Experience has shown that an integrated approach combining legislative measures and self-regulation is most effective. As part of the current regulation, the Government of the Russian Federation instructed the Ministry of Economic Development, together with the FAS Russia, to develop a separate bill on platform employment, designed to establish clear and non-discriminatory rules for access to the largest digital platforms, including marketplaces and taxi aggregators, to ensure a balance of interests of operators, market participants and consumers.
Olga Korolkova, Assistant to the Member of the Board (Minister) for Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), shared her experience of supranational regulation. She recalled that the EAEU, which celebrated its 11th anniversary in May 2025, is an international organization of regional economic integration whose task is to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital and labor. The EEC Competition Block, in turn, ensures this freedom in cross-border markets. As part of the strategic development directions until 2025, the Commission has prepared a draft agreement on e-commerce within the EAEU, establishing requirements for professional market participants, including requirements for platforms and advertising messages, and also touching upon issues of consumer protection, technical regulation, security and customs clearance of digital goods. In addition, the EEC Antimonopoly Block has already amended the methodology for assessing the state of competition, including criteria for analyzing digital markets, such as network effects.
Summing up the meeting, Alexey Ivanov focused on the unique role of the antimonopoly regulator, which is called upon to act as a mediator and facilitator, taking a neutral and objective position. The regulator’s task is not to protect the interests of one of the parties, such as platform owners or their employees, but to promote the development of competition. The key goal of its activities is to ensure balanced and sustainable development of the market, when the growth and dominance of some participants to the detriment of others is not allowed.
Speaking about the role of BRICS, Alexey Ivanov emphasized that the association is a “network of networks,” a superstructure over regional associations that performs the function of coordination between various regional structures, and, among other things, helps countries build a synchronized antimonopoly policy.
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