HONG KONG, Feb 13 (Reuters) – China’s market watchdog on Friday released anti-monopoly guidelines for internet platforms to help prevent collusion and unfairly high prices.
KEY DETAILS:
* The guidelines target the use of sophisticated tech to fixprices, warning platforms against using algorithms to coordinatepricing or traffic distribution with competitors. * Authorities also labelled “all-network lowest price”requirements as a risk, prohibiting dominant platforms fromforcing merchants to lower prices on their platform wheneverthey drop prices elsewhere. They also noted that even smallerplatforms could face monopoly charges if they demand equal orbetter price offers or other conditions than their competitors. * The guidelines prohibit forced exclusive partnerships.Major platform operators are banned from demanding thatmerchants pledge not to cooperate with competing platformswithout justifiable grounds. * Platforms are advised against using transaction history,device types, or spending habits to charge different prices todifferent users for the same service.
(Reporting by the Beijing newsroom; writing by Farah Master and Ethan Wang; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Tomasz Janowski)