“E-Commerce Law” will come into force on 1st Jan, 2019.

The fundamental law for the e-commerce industry —- “E-Commerce Law” has been issued on 31st Aug., 2018, and will come into fore on 1st Jan., 2019. The promulgation of this law has prescribed many regulations on the obligations and liabilities of the e-commerce operator, and other aspects, which might impact the parties who are involved in e-commerce transactions.

“E-Commerce Law” is divided into 7 chapters and 89 articles, including the definition and obligations of e-commerce operators, the formation and implementation of e-commerce contracts, the dispute resolution and so on.

In practice, the disputes between consumers and e-commerce operators are very common. Therefore, the following is a brief introduction on the obligations of e-commerce operators.

1.Publicity

An e-commerce operator shall, at a conspicuous place of its homepage, continuously publish the information on its business license,the information on the administrative licensing relating to the business operated by it, the circumstances not requiring it to make market participant registration, and other information, or the mark of the link to the aforesaid information. In addition, where an e-commerce operator is to independently terminate its engagement in e-commerce, it shall, 30 days in advance, continuously publish the relevant information at a conspicuous place of its homepage.

2.To regulate the rules for providing search results

When providing the results of search for commodities or services for a consumer based on the hobby, consumption habit, or any other traits thereof, the e-commerce business shall provide the consumer with options not targeting his/her identifiable traits.

3.To restrict the tie-in sale

If an e-commerce operator performs tie-in sale of commodities or services, it shall request consumers to pay attention in a conspicuous manner and shall not set the said tie-in sale as a default option. The conspicuous manner could refer to the regulations in “Guidelines for Regulating the Standard Terms of Online Trading Platform Contracts” issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The regulations require the operator to use those special marks reasonably, such as characters, symbols, and fonts. The reasonable usages include bolding or enlarging those marks.

4. To regulate the collection and refund of deposit

An e-commerce operator collects deposits from consumers as agreed, it shall expressly state the manner and procedure for the refund of the deposits, and shall not set unreasonable conditions. If a consumer applies for the refund of his/her deposit and meets the condition therefor, the e-commerce business shall make a refund in a timely manner.
5.To regulate the means of and procedures for search, correction or deletion of user information and user deregistration
An e-commerce operator shall expressly state the means of and procedures for search, correction or deletion of user information and user deregistration and shall not establish unreasonable conditions for search, correction or deletion of user information and user deregistration.