The State Administration for Market Regulation has further released signals of support and encouragement for the development of platform economy.
On August 30th, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation, in April 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation imposed administrative penalties and provided administrative guidance on Alibaba Group Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Alibaba Group) for its "choose one" monopoly behavior in the online retail platform service market in China, ordering it to stop illegal activities, conduct comprehensive self-examination and rectification, and submit self-examination compliance reports to the State Administration for Market Regulation for three consecutive years.
The news points out that in the past three years, the State Administration for Market Regulation has strengthened its supervision of Alibaba Group's compliance rectification, conducted in-depth inspections of the implementation of rectification, and commissioned third-party institutions to conduct law enforcement effectiveness evaluations. From the perspective of verification and evaluation, Alibaba Group has comprehensively stopped the "two choice one" monopoly behavior in accordance with the requirements of the "Administrative Penalty Decision" and "Administrative Guidance", strictly regulated its own business behavior, conscientiously implemented the platform's main responsibility, improved the enterprise compliance management system, improved the service level of merchants and consumers on the platform, achieved good results in compliance rectification work, improved the online retail market environment, effectively restored fair competition order, continuously expanded market development space, significantly improved competition vitality between platforms, and continuously optimized the quality of platform economic development and business environment.
Next, the State Administration for Market Regulation will guide Alibaba Group to continue regulating its operations, further improving compliance, quality, and efficiency, accelerating innovation driven development, continuously improving service levels, and providing solid guarantees for building a world-class enterprise and enhancing international competitiveness.
In response to the above announcement, Alibaba responded to a reporter from The Paper, saying, "For Alibaba, this is a new starting point for development. In the future, we will continue to focus on innovation, adhere to compliant operations, increase investment in technology, promote the healthy development of the platform economy, and create more value for society
The State Administration for Market Regulation also stated that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to promoting the development of the platform economy. The State Administration for Market Regulation will resolutely implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, coordinate efficiency and fairness, vitality and order, development and safety, adhere to the equal importance of regulatory norms and promoting development, deeply promote anti-monopoly supervision and law enforcement in the field of platform economy, accelerate the improvement of normalized regulatory system, guide platform enterprises to enhance their compliance capabilities and levels, continuously optimize the fair competition market environment, and promote the standardized, healthy and sustainable innovation and development of the platform economy.
Alibaba Group has completed three years of rectification and achieved good results, which can be seen as a positive signal from regulatory authorities to support and encourage the development of the platform economy. Wang Peng, deputy researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told The Paper that this signal indicates that regulatory authorities not only maintain fair competition in the market, but also focus on guiding and supporting the healthy development of the platform economy in a standardized manner. The tense atmosphere of anti-monopoly in the platform economy in the past few years was mainly aimed at correcting unfair competition in the market, protecting consumer rights, and promoting fair competition in the market. With the progress and effectiveness of rectification work, regulatory authorities have become more rational and supportive of the development of platform economy.
The government has been supporting the development of the platform economy, and the policy of emphasizing both platform economy development and regulation has not changed. We hope to achieve normalized regulation, "Liu Xu, a special researcher at the National Strategic Research Institute of Tsinghua University, told The Paper.
Previously, in December 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation launched an investigation into Alibaba Group Holding Limited's abuse of market dominance in China's online retail platform service market in accordance with the Anti Monopoly Law. After investigation, Alibaba Group has a dominant position in the online retail platform service market in China. Since 2015, Alibaba Group has abused its dominant market position by imposing a "two choice" requirement on platform merchants, prohibiting them from opening stores or participating in promotional activities on other competitive platforms. With the help of market forces, platform rules, data, algorithms, and other technological means, various reward and punishment measures have been taken to ensure the implementation of the "two choice" requirement, maintain and enhance its own market power, and obtain unfair competitive advantages.
On April 10, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation made an administrative penalty decision in accordance with the law, ordering Alibaba Group to cease its illegal activities and imposing a fine of 4% of its 2019 domestic sales in China, totaling 18.228 billion yuan. At the same time, in accordance with the principle of combining punishment with education in accordance with the Administrative Penalty Law, an "Administrative Guidance Letter" was issued to Alibaba Group, requiring it to comprehensively rectify the main responsibilities of platform enterprises, strengthen internal control and compliance management, maintain fair competition, protect the legitimate rights and interests of merchants and consumers on the platform, and submit self inspection and compliance reports to the State Administration for Market Regulation for three consecutive years.
Strengthening anti-monopoly supervision will never be a factor that hinders the development of high-tech industries, but a driving force that is more conducive to efficiency improvement, corporate innovation, and consumer welfare enhancement. Liu Xu further pointed out that in the past three years, Alibaba, Meituan, and CNKI, which have been punished by anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies, have not brought substantial development obstacles to the three companies. At the end of 2020, the central government proposed to strengthen anti-monopoly measures and eliminate the "two choose one" behavior in the fields where three super large platforms are located. Their respective competitors have also developed better, and they have not come at the cost of the decline of punished enterprises. Instead, they have jointly embarked on the path of expanding overseas markets and striving for high-quality development.
Such positive signals will undoubtedly affect the future policy direction and market environment. Wang Peng pointed out that the supportive attitude of regulatory authorities towards the development of platform economy will help provide a more stable and predictable policy environment for platform economy operators. For platform economy operators like Alibaba, this means they can innovate and expand more boldly when conducting business. However, at the same time, it is also necessary to pay attention to complying with relevant laws, regulations, and market rules to ensure the compliance and sustainability of business activities.
Wang Peng further pointed out that the future policy direction may pay more attention to balancing innovation and regulation, encouraging platform enterprises to leverage their technological innovation advantages, promote the deep integration of digital economy and real economy development, and increase regulatory efforts to prevent and resolve potential risks, maintain market fair competition order and consumer rights.